The Shattered Sword
by Veneto.Offices
Summary: In the hearts of many that call Veneta home, few ever see what the three Champions go through on a daily basis. Political corruption, the press, and sometimes the local armed militia trying to steal secretive research. One Champion sits in their office alone, sword by their heart, shattered and broken. But still his heart beats on and on.
1. Just another Day

Swords are esteemed weapons, they can be used to fight for justice and self-defense. But like anything, they can also be used to fight against those very ideals.

But the sword itself is neutral, is it not?

The sword is an inanimate object, unable to have feelings or a soul, excluding the Honedge line. Sadly, the same cannot be said about people or Pokémon. Most are more than capable of thought that can differentiate good from evil.

But why do people do the things that they do? For good or evil…

"Sir, are you alright?"

The voice snapped me out of my trance, I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, seeing that it was early morning in my office still. I was facing towards the window that was opposite to the door behind me.

"I'm fine, what did you need?" I said dismissively while twisting around my seat, facing the person.

He wore a cyan hat and a dark blue jacket with blacks pants, an outfit that was commonly meant for couriers.

He stuck a hand into a bag he had dangling off his right shoulder and took out a small box with a note stapled onto it.

Carefully he put it on my desk. "Just this came in for you, Champion."

"Thank you," I said while twisting around back towards the window. "Do you know if Lance is back yet? I needed to talk to him."

The man shook his head while zipping his bag back up. "I wouldn't know, sir, I just got here."

"Right, sorry to bother you then, continue on."

Without a word, he quickly left with haste in his steps as the doors opened and closed as softly as possible.

I couldn't help but sigh, my attention quickly turning back to my thoughts and room around me.

This room wasn't meant for just one person, I simply am one of three people who use this room for their endeavors. I have partners in this job, both being very good friends of mine.

I glanced over to Lance's desk, which was in the center opposite side from the door. Having the bigger window when compared to mine. Papers were strewn out over the top, what they were about I didn't want to know.

He was a working man, and a good friend. Knew how to talk to people very well on top of his battling proficiency. Guess he was made for the more political stuff, I only ever want to touch it if it benefited me.

Jonathan's desk was opposite from my own, on the right side if you came in from the door. Unlike mine or Lance's desks, which had some level of organized chaos and obvious work being done on them. Stains from drinks and some crunched up wrappers decorated his, with some papers on it depicting some battling strategies he must be putting together.

However there was a small radius that no trash or stains dared cross, in its center was a picture of me and him with our teams sprawled out on the ground in a field. Back when things were simple, back when we traveled the world.

Sometimes I wonder if he ever grew up.

Maybe it would be better for me to just not talk to either of my partners on this matter. Lance was great and all with people and as a friend, but the favor I wanted from him would probably be outside his area of expertise.

I turned my attention towards the package, twisting my chair around slowly to face it, wondering who it even came from…

One of my team perhaps? Or maybe Jonathan?

I stared at it for what felt like a minute, playing a game with myself over which of my comrades sent it.

The odds of Jonathan having the mental capacity to send me a package was low, but never zero. I couldn't help but snicker to myself, he'd probably threaten me with various acts against my person should I ever say that to his face.

There was only one person on my team who'd even be able to send a package, but they were a Gardevoir. Which meant that she probably wouldn't be using a courier to give me something, as teleporting is simply faster and easier.

I grasped it in my hands and read the note.

_If you're reading this, Luke, then I just wanted to say thank you for that job you did for me last week with those 'delinquents' causing trouble in the city. I hope this helps you in making that weird sword you were telling me about._

_Yours truly, Lance Novak_

Ah Lance, you truly do surprise me sometimes.

I opened the box and found a bunch of elemental stones used in Pokémon evolution wrapped in pieces of cloth. Now I had something to do, something that would help me pass the time for a few hours.

I got out of my chair and gazed out the window one last time, seeing Central Veneto in all its glory. The morning sun reflected off the beach's waves and windows of the buildings built up all over the coastline. A brilliant yellowish glow seemingly spreading out all over the entire city as the sun slowly rose.

I vaulted over my desk while cradling the box in my arms with grace, landing briskly on the other side with a smile growing on my face as I made my way towards the door. The hallways all melted together into a collective chore I wish I could skip, reminded that teleportation would be much easier.

Maybe I should've just brought my team with me, that would've solved this problem easily.

People occasionally passed by, giving me the usual wave of greeting when they see me. Truth be told I was sick of it, standing out from everyone else doesn't bide well with me. Especially with how I go about the 'Champion' part of it. I wanted to blend in and just exist, I like the benefits of being a Champion but hate the publicity that comes with it.

I stopped short, something didn't seem right. Must've forgotten something important that I needed to do.

The clicking of heels echoed from the hall behind me, stopping as a voice rang out. "The trainers you called for are awaiting your briefing, sir."

Ah, that's what I was forgetting.

I turned around to go back towards one of the meeting rooms. The person had the mainly dark gray uniform with black sleeves and gold colored buttons on it that most people working here had. The buttons themselves weren't all done up, allowing the uniform to flow and me to see her red shirt beneath it all. Stood off to the right with her hands folded across her chest, a small smile on her face that seemed reflective of the minimal work needing to be done today.

Wouldn't expect anyone to enjoy doing a lot of work after all, but even I could tell she was bored.

I sighed while walking back down the hall, opposite from the warm embrace of the exit, flashing the person a thumbs up while smiling just a little brighter.

The walk wasn't long at all, it was simply up a flight of stairs and past some of the more public areas. Including a window that looked out at the battle arena in the center of the building.

I brushed past it, not giving it much attention, for the door to the meeting room was just in sight. It was a thick wooden door that creaked when I opened it, finding everyone's attention turned towards me.

On the wall closest to the door was a TV that was turned off, used mainly for showing things that required digital stuff. In front of it was chairs and tables, all on one of the tables were the six trainers talking amongst themselves.

Quickly I made my way over to be in-front of the TV after closing the door.

"Alright…" I began while looking between all six of the trainers who were sitting down on some of the chairs set up facing one of the walls, all wearing the same uniform with varying levels of personal decor on it. "This assignment is one that requires some precision, you'll be getting a Psychic Pokémon each unless you have one you feel comfortable to be having out at all times."

They nodded amongst themselves, one unclipped a Pokéball and balanced it on one finger with a smile on their face. Probably to signal they didn't need another Pokémon. "If you need a partner, go see Jack. He's already got six briefed and ready to go should you need them."

I turned the TV on using a tablet that was on one of the tables, putting my credentials in and bringing up the mission details onto the screen. "I have reason to believe that someone or thing is driving Pokémon away from a certain area in Veneta. The reason 'why' you will be investigating, if you are to discover that humans are the cause, then you are to retreat immediately and call back here so me, Jonathan, or Lance can get the proper authorities briefed. However, if it's a Pokémon doing it, then I'd appreciate some information on it if you can get it."

After taking a short breath, I adjusted my sweater a little from how hot everything was. "Any questions?"

"Why are we taking a Psychic Pokémon each?" the one twirling a Pokéball asked.

"Teleportation, the ability to know where people are without visual details, mind reading. The list goes on, it'd be stupid to not have one by your side." I sat down on one of the chairs and sighed, whispering to myself. "Why do I even have to explain these things?"

A loud knock sounded at the door. I couldn't help but groan a little at the interruption. "Yes?"

The door opened and brought with it the passage of colder air to flow into the stuffy room. A person entered along with it. Dressed in a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants with blond hair that was combed to the left side, matched with his slightly tan white skin and bright blue eyes that nearly shone in the doorway.

He was smirking with a Pokéball in his hand, what for I could only imagine.

"Welcome to my private briefing, Jonathan." I said with a smirk growing on my own face. "Is there any reason why you're here?"

He closed the door behind himself, looking proud that he managed to find me. "Doing Pokémon battling rallies here tonight for the hell of it, wanted to know if you'd be interested."

"Do all of you understand your mission?" I asked the six trainers, who all nodded. "Then you're all dismissed, happy hunting."

The six trainers cleared the room, looking relieved to be out of the hot hell that was this room.

"First off, I'm busy. Secondly, where in the ever living hell did you come from? You were literally sleeping when I left the apartment, and it's not even noon yet." I said while standing up.

Jonathan opened the door and leaned up against it, glancing between me and the outside. "I don't know man, something just hit different today. I got Ruby to teleport me and my team here since she's doing stuff back at our apartment with the rest of your team."

I walked past him with my package of evolution stones in hand, he called out to me after the door closed with a thud. "You owe me man, I'll come knocking one of these days and it won't be for permission."

"I'll prepare for tomorrow then." I called back while walking to the exit.

The fresh cool air hit me all at once as I stepped outside, the rising sun still overhead while I began to walk along the sidewalk. I took a deep breath of the refreshing breeze, taking in the view from the bridge that connected the 'Castle on the Island hill' to a road that ran into Central Veneto, our capital city.

However I wouldn't be going into the city today.

The outskirts consisted of forest that stretched for who knows how long, often cleared out in some areas for a Pokémon Center or route to another town or city. But there was the occasional house out there, cut off from the main roads.

I didn't know all the houses that were out there, but only one really mattered. However the paths that led there are now plagued by wild Pokémon from infrequent use. I only had one of my team members with me, the rest were sleeping when I left. But it wouldn't matter, nothing of threat to me could ever sermount from a few wild Pokémon for a few reasons.

One of the many being that never in my life would you catch me playing fair against something that wants me dead, human or otherwise. Playing fair is a risk in those scenarios, a risk I'm never going to take.

I grasped the only Pokéball I had with me, the feeling of responsibility flooding through me. Responsibility for those that choose to protect me, responsibility to the Pokémon I've spent my entire life with.

Stress accompanied it, although it didn't matter much, I was used to it.

I tossed it into the air briefly before it opened, releasing the Pokémon from the inside of it in a flash of red light. The light disappeared as soon as it came, leaving behind a large purple snake that uncoiled itself, standing taller than me by a good foot and a half.

No matter how many times she rose above me; the chill that ran down my spine never got old.

"Hey Serene," I greeted while stepping out in front of her. She glanced around the area before hissing lightly with a smile on her face. "I finished everything I needed to do at the castle, wanted to know if you wanted to stretch your coils for a while before starting our project."

She took to my side, signaling for me to start walking by pointing ahead into the forest with her tail end of her coils. I nodded as I started wading my way through the first bits of brush before us. I kept an eye on my surroundings, getting surprised by a wild Pokémon was the last thing on my agenda.

The city quickly disappeared from all our senses, no noise from nearby cars, or the distinctive smell of the ocean. Leaving us alone as we traveled deeper into the woods along the old trodden dirt path that I went down a million times before.

These dirt pathways often went for miles, they were shortcuts for many that came with a risk. It is a chore to try and explore them all, some say that they went across the entire region. Even I couldn't do it when I was a kid, and I had all the time I could dream of having.

I've been down so many, getting lost without a care in the world like any curious kid would. I wish I was smarter than that, would've spared me plenty of pain.

A nearby bush shook slightly enough for me and Serene to freeze instinctively and crouch down. "If it's hostile, nail it with gunkshot." I whispered as she slowly got in front of me. My mind was already at work hyping me up for something that was probably far too small for whatever large-scale conflict I had envisioned to happen.

Anything could happen still, everything could go wrong no matter the odds. I picked up a sizable stick with the intent to use it like a staff-like weapon, should I need it.

Serene gave me a weird look before turning her attention back towards the possible threat.

"Don't give me that," I began while grasping the stick a little tighter. "This is just a precaution."

She glared at me a little harder before rolling her eyes and turning her attention back towards the bush.

Out hopped a little brown and fuzzy Bidoof. It spotted Serene with her tall and threatening posture, and me with a stick. Slowly it backed up into the bushes it came from to turn tail and run, probably not expecting to see a Trainer out here, much less one being accompanied by an Arbok.

I sighed and tossed the stick to the side and continued on our way. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just too paranoid for my own good… maybe the stress was finally getting to my head.

Stress from the job, stress from all the people I meet, stress from any one of them being out to get information on me to put in a magazine, or worse. Some stupid papparazzi from whatever gossip magazine is popular in Veneta could be damn well following me right now and I'd never know.

If I ever found out I was being followed, nobody will find their corpse in these woods, nor miss them enough to look. I just want to do my job in peace, I just want to help without being judged by the suit I decided to wear, I do not want these people all up in my face making it a nightmare.

A twig snapped behind me, causing me to drop to the ground again as Serene once more took to getting in front of me.

Was I actually being followed by someone? Maybe killing the paparazzi would be a little harsh...

The rustling stopped, I saw nothing for me to take as a weapon, leaving Serene as my only defense should something bigger than last time come out of the bushes.

I felt like I was being watched from my mind itself, like every action I took was predicted to occur. I can safely assume there was no paparazzi thankfully, but we definitely have been followed by a Pokémon. And I think I knew who.

"Blast the bushes with acid, it's a psychic." Serene bent her head back and spewed the acid all over the surrounding flora, everything hit began to wither away as it melted down to nothing.

Something green and white jumped out of the bushes flying straight towards me. I stepped to the side and tripped the Gardevoir with my leg as Serene fired a gunkshot straight at it. A smile flashed across its face as psyshock materialized into a sword in its hand before the Gardevoir disappeared into thin air.

I put my back to Serene's as she hissed angrily. "Shake things up a bit, she has nowhere to run now."

She wrapped a coil around me as a small laugh came from her. The ground began to shake in the surrounding area violently. Trees started to fall over, throwing the Gardevoir back into our view.

Serene pushed me to the side as her tail whipped around and clashed with the Gardevoir's makeshift sword. She launched another gunkshot as it started backing off.

The Gardevoir slashed it in two and charged again. "She's going to dodge this time, get a little surprise ready."

Serene spun her tail around as the Gardevoir jumped over it, Serene bent back and launched one more gunkshot at it. It fell to the floor before teleporting a short distance away, still grasping onto the sword it made.

The sword suddenly disappeared into a flash of light as it began to approach with its hands up. She sighed before speaking in perfect english. "I yield, I'm not in the mood to fight off the prolonged effects of poison today, Tyrn. Nice shot by the way Serene."

Serene rolled her eyes as she used haze to cure most of the effects of the poison, however it wouldn't be completely eliminated. Haze can only stop so much, especially with the potency of her poison.

"How did you find us?" I asked her while leaning against one of the many fallen trees.

"You were gone when we woke up, I guessed where you were going to end up, and guessed correctly judging by where you're standing."

I sighed and started walking again, I really need to cover my tracks better. "Maybe I should be asking why you are following us, Ruby?"

"Keeping an eye on you like any responsible guardian would." Ruby came up beside me and cleared away the fallen trees from the pathway forward. "And to keep you on your toes."

"I guess an ambush is a great way to get the blood flowing." I sarcastically retorted.

Serene hissed at her, Ruby answered back by grabbing me and her. My surroundings vanished out of my view for what felt like milliseconds, replaced by the view of an old house kept in good condition surrounded by the forest. Serene was next to me, but Ruby was gone.

A soft voice rung out in my mind. [I've got some things to attend to with Ashley, have fun, I'll see you later hopefully.] I sometimes wonder what I'd do without her. The smile that lay upon her face is contagious, much like her attitude.

I started walking towards the house, Serene following close behind as I opened the door with a key I had on me. "Let's get to work on the thing we tried yesterday…"

I nearly called out for my parents as I entered, the words caught on my lips as I remembered that they've been long gone for years. I stopped in the doorway, my right hand shaking slightly as I balled it into a fist.

I closed my eyes for a moment, barely being able to enter this forsaken place. Serene entered beside me, looking a little worried as she tugged on my hand with her tail.

"I'm fine, just a little woozy from the teleport."

* * *

The basement doors closed behind us as we descended the stairs to where we would be spending most of the day toying away at various potential weapon ideas I had. It was a lab of sorts, used by my dad while he was here. Now mine, and I couldn't have any bigger shoes to fill then his...

I put down the box of various elemental stones Lance had gifted me onto a table in the center of the makeshift lab area. "Grab the gauntlet, let's see if our theory is correct…"

Serene opened a cabinet and passed me a metallic gauntlet, on the wrist area was a place to slot the stone into. I took out our safest option, the water stone, and slotted it in with a few clicks. It hissed with energy as the gauntlet began channeling some of it.

A robotic voice started to come from a computer sitting next to Serene, she had a small device on her head that was translating for me so we could communicate without Ruby's psychic assistance. "Testing, testing… should we try using some of its power?"

"I'll try," I extended my hand outwards towards a soda can left there by someone I couldn't remember. I visualized a small projectile of water launching itself at it, the gauntlet began to react with some whirls as something launched and hit the can dead on.

A bullet sized hole was punched straight through it, I took the stone out and put it back into the box. "So the stones have a harnessable energy, which is probably used in the evolutionary processes for Pokémon who need them to evolve. We already knew that, however this confirms that we can do more than just use it to power stuff, we can weaponize it completely."

Serene nodded, using one of her tails to put a handle for a sword with a similar slot for a stone on the table. "Try the dawn stone, maybe you'll create a 'lightsaber' finally."

I chuckled a little before grabbing a dawn stone and putting it into the pommel area slot. It began to hum with a pink energy to it. Everything seemed stable at least.

"If this works, promise me to never tell Jonathan." I got into a sword stance while pushing the button on the pommel end. The pink substance overflowed from where the blade should come out like liquid.

I reeled away, thinking that it was acidic, Serene calmly swiped it from my hand and closed her eyes. Suddenly the substance began to swirl around her as it formed into a blade where it should've.

"It seems to be a substance that's sensitive to the thoughts of its wielder," she handed it back to me. "try it."

It took the form of a liquid briefly as I imagined a sword, it swirled around me before doing as I commanded. The blade was very light, especially when compared to the usual sword I was accustomed to. I bent back and sliced the can from before clean in half, both pieces landing right beside each other.

"So it's being channeled through an object, grasping the object gives control of the substance. I'm guessing the substance itself has some other effects that can be exploited."

I imagined it being thrown and wedging itself in the wall, I swung the blade and it took off and spun through the air, landing exactly where I envisioned.

Serene nodded fervently. "Try the same stone on the gauntlet."

Quickly I did exactly that, the sword powered down as the gauntlet whirled again to life as the power flowed through it. I felt something more than usual, like I had a sixth-sense just be awakened.

I outstretched my hand, the two pieces of the can now floating in the air. "Bargain-bin value psychic powers, now I really need to hide this from Jonathan and Ruby"

Pain suddenly rippled through my body as the can pieces suddenly became hard to concentrate on, making them much heavier then they should. Everything seemed like it was fading away like my mind was being dragged somewhere. I ripped the stone out of the gauntlet before my senses could get overloaded any more.

Serene was at my side while I was coughing and bent down on my knees. "You alright? The screen said that something was interfering from the outside."

I sighed, the pain was gone, leaving behind a sluggish feeling of tiredness. "I'm fine now, just a little shaken. Maybe I subconsciously tried reading the mind of a dark-type or something, Ruby says that trying to read that type's mind usually results in a headache." I said, dismissing any concern. Never doing that again unless Ruby is here for her natural prowess.

"I think that's enough testing, lets just tweak things we already have and tune other stuff, I'm feeling pretty drained after that…" I said while putting the stones back into the box and putting it into a cupboard for later.

* * *

"If Pokémon interact with the energy in the stones to evolve, then maybe it might cause things to change within humans." Serene began while looking over some of the data that was collected from the testing we did. "Although Ruby would kill me should I allow you to do something like that to yourself. Don't even ask, I know you would. Next time we can try the other stones with Ruby, for uh, 'safety'."

I packed the laptop away, taking off the device Serene had. "Yea, we can try the stones next time with Ruby. Also remember, do not tell her of the mishap, she'd lecture us on how dangerous being a psychic is before 'losing' it conveniently for our safety."

She nodded, starting back up the stairs as I followed behind her.

I was feeling much better from before, thankfully just in time for my little personal project. I took a black backpack I left here for myself yesterday, containing a camera and another laptop. We went outside the house, making sure to lock the door before starting off into a different direction from where we came originally.

The castle was back north-east, with the city directly eastbound, we had to go in the opposite direction. It would be about a long walk westbound, about two and a half hour's worth of it. Afternoon sun bared down on us as we started making our way through, not nearly as hot as it should've been thanks to the natural shade of the forest.

Serene took to the trees, weaving around them with ease and grace. This forest has a benefit for her, giving her a natural way for her to move about. Unseen by most, posed and ready to strike at a moment's notice.

I started to pay even more attention to my surroundings, now I really couldn't afford to be snuck up on by anyone, Pokémon or human. I found myself looking for places to jump and take cover behind, or potential environmental hazards I could exploit.

Assuming Serene doesn't immediately 'pacify' the enemy, I lost track of her in the thick brush and trees. But I could still feel her looming over me, watching vigilantly from the shadows like she usually does. All the while being calculated and relentless in battle.

Like a predator, true to her nature but not a slave to it. Thankfully on my side and no one else's. Keeping a close eye on me most of all, the real target in this situation.

After all, you cut the head off the snake to kill it, and she knows that better than anyone else.

The bushes and trees thickened in density, only the dirt-path I trudged through was clear, sunlight was oddly absent now. It was all to give an illusion that nobody was set up here. How naive one must be to believe that a bunch of trees and bushes could keep someone away.

I crouched down and hung my bag on a tree, taking my camera in hand as I crawled my way through the bushes. Patrols would be happening in the nearby area right about now, I wasn't worried for Serene, she'd never be found. However, I'm human, and they have guns and I don't.

I spotted the building in front of me in a valley below, surrounded on all sides by concrete walls with a large gate to let things in or out. A road could be seen carving its way through the forest enough for trucks and cars to go down it with relative ease.

The place had an helipad with a helicopter waiting to take off, I could hear it from where I was.

I shouldn't stay long, they'll find me otherwise.

A question came back to me as I readied my camera, why do people do the things that they do? For good or evil?

Why do people willingly choose to make others suffer for their own benefit, or even just because they can. Why do people go out of their way to stop these people? To defend justice and the downtrodden, to make people feel good?

I took a picture of some trucks offloading weapons and ammunition, being sure to get some of the drivers as well. I needed everything I could get without direct confrontation.

Morals are not an invented thing, they're a part of us like our very souls. Woven into us by an unseen creator, a conscience. But even that can be corrupted, by either the person forcing themselves or by influence from others.

We can even turn it off completely, the mob-mentality shows how easy it is for others to do terrible things so long as they see others doing it. Allowing them to convince themselves that because other people are doing it, it must be okay.

Sometimes the person is just wrong in the head, and even that brings its own questions. Like how does that happen? Abuse? Experiences that should be avoided 'till a certain age? Trauma? A crippling desire for something?

Evil people do exist, it's not exclusive to any one species. But humans can seem more malevolent because of our ability to exploit the morals of others on levels that few Pokémon can even understand. All thanks to our advanced innate understanding of good and evil.

People can change as well through their experiences or understanding. I'll admit that my experiences have changed me over the years, for better or worse.

A patrol group came out of the gate, they'd start sweeping the area soon, it was time to leave. I got enough for now. I can always come back, even though time isn't on my side. I still had some.

I started crawling back out where I hung my backpack, the sun looking like it was going to start setting in about two hours. It'd be night by the time we got back, everyone should be too tired to ask questions about my whereabouts.

The forest darkened considerably, whatever could have been in the bushes before were most certainly there now. Pokémon can be extremely territorial, I best be on my toes and move fast.

I nearly jumped when my backpack landed beside me, barely catching Serene's tail disappearing into the darkness. At least she has my back and knew that we should be leaving ASAP. I put my backpack on while starting to run, slipping my camera in and praying something doesn't break it.

Swiftly I weaved my way through the forest trees and brush. Being mindful that I could step on anything from an Eevee's tail, to a Ariados's web. Both probably would lead to me getting bit by something with only my camera.

I only managed to get five photos of what was going on, disappointing but nothing that would set me back.

Investigating things as a Champion usually is high-profile, garnering the attention of a lot of people. Sometimes that's the political play, tell everyone what you're doing to get support, but not here. This case was different, this 'investigation' is more of a personal thing if anything. Nobody knows about my side of the story, while they may know of the parties involved.

Years ago when I became a Champion, I went back into a piece of my past I can't ever seem to escape from. People died because of my mistake, the people responsible were connected to so much I couldn't see at first.

Looking back, I should've been better, I should've seen the weight of what I was looking at. Research that went into the powers of Pokémon and where they come from was getting stolen throughout the region. And I didn't bother to connect the dots until it came up again in my office.

It seemed simple at first. People already know who steals the research, but nobody knows who gives them the information necessary to do the heist. These research thieves had a name, back before I became a Champion they were called the Nomad Research Scourge, NRS.

That's when I decided to see if it was an inside job.

I hired a team of people to basically do nothing but look like they were working on something big, I didn't tell them why. I put access to the information on a 'need-to-know' basis. Soon people would ask questions on what it was for, I gave all of them different answers for later.

Eventually like moths to a flame, they came directly into the fire. There were ten of them, all armed to the teeth with Venetian military gear. Such a shame they didn't even have a chance to use it. Turns out the gear they had was reported 'missing' by officials in the military's grand armory, although I don't know enough to say whether it was stolen or given to them through an illegal sale.

Although I'm no longer allowed to do this because it's 'unethical', mind drilling revealed that they called themselves 'Phantoms' or 'Eidolons' and that they were given their orders by someone long thought KIA in the military.

The information they had on the project matched that of someone in my little experiment. A quick visit to this person revealed that the names lined up, and that they were far from the only one giving them information.

That's what kicked this whole damned thing off. I can't trust anyone now, or else they'll disappear and I'll never find them. Now I just have to stop my friends from interfering with it, even my own Pokémon. All of them don't know, except for one psychic who really likes being where she shouldn't.

Although I'm not the only one looking for them, I'm the only one looking for the connections since nobody believes it to be a threat. Sometimes I wonder which side these people who are leaders of our region are on.

I jumped over a bush and landed in a small clearing, my legs burned from the few minutes of running. While crouched down and breathing as quietly as I could, I tried to listen to my surroundings.

Night was now upon us, the glow of the moon shone through just enough of the trees for me to see in front of me. My breathing steadied as the cool air around me sent a chill down my spine, slowly I began to continue walking through.

Something didn't feel right again. I studied the area around me, darkness veiled much of the forest, the light only able to pierce through the openings in the leaves above. But something was there nonetheless, watching, plotting…

I caught the movement of something swinging my way in the corner of my eye and jumped away, I grunted as blood now dropped from a small cut on my cheek. A bladed tail stuck into the ground as the Pokémon revealed itself. Seviper, my least favorite thing to run into out here alone.

However I wasn't alone on this occasion.

The Seviper recoiled backwards as another tail slapped it across the face and into a tree. It hissed angrily as poison started to drip off of its blade.

Serene hissed back, unmoving from her current position with her tail ready to deflect any attack. She hardened her gaze as the Seviper met her eyes.

I wiped my cut clean of blood, my expression matching the intensity of Serene's. "I'm going to warn you once, leave peacefully, or I'll leave a scar you'll never forget."

It raised its tail in a challenge, clearly not interested in negotiating with me or Serene. I couldn't help but sigh, this thing didn't even know who we were.

"I warned you." I muttered as I flashed a hand-sign to Serene.

Serene swung her tail around and wrapped around the Seviper, it cried in surprise as she threw it in the air and struck it in the head with a dark pulse.

She kept up the pressure, weaving past its desperate and poorly aimed sludge bombs and striking it again with another dragon tail. The blow sent it into another tree right beside me, I slowly backed away with my arms up, ready to grab its tail in defense.

Its tail sailed at me in a stab, wheezing past me as I grabbed it and pulled hard. Its first reaction was to attempt to wrap around me, Serene hit its head with a pin-point sludge bomb of her own.

I took the chance and slashed it across the face with its own tail, it cried as its own tail blade ripped through its flesh and left a sizable cut in its face. It backed off as Serene stood behind me. The Seviper slithered off further into the woods while frantically waving its blade at me and her.

"Ruby is gonna kill that Seviper, then me." I said jokingly while rubbing the cut on my cheek. By tomorrow it should be fine. Hopefully.

Serene wearily nodded her head, following directly behind me now as we finished our final stretch of the walk back home.

The sounds of the city returned to us, we popped out near a road that led directly to the apartment me and my friend were using. The ease of navigating the city really did contrast when compared to the forest outside it.

The occasional person drearily walked by us, uninterested in their surroundings enough to not even bat an eye at me. Sometimes it felt nice to just blend in a little bit. Or maybe they just didn't have the energy to ask me any questions. I'd never know, and honestly, I'd rather not.

I stopped to gaze upwards at the apartment building in front of me. It was tall, and our rooms were on the top floor. I opened the door and walked briskly over to the elevator, waving to the girl behind the counter who waved back in a nonchalant way.

"Welcome back, Champion." she said in a friendly tone.

I nodded back while going into the elevator, not interested in making small talk until I got settled down. I picked the tenth floor and the doors closed as we started our rise. Serene seemed a little claustrophobic of the setting, although I doubt she'd want to go into her Pokéball just for this moment.

With a ding of arrival, the doors opened. Serene exited first, thankful that it was over, I followed close behind while wielding a key for the door. My mind was beginning to calm itself, I didn't have any reason to be paranoid of my surroundings for now. The lock shifted open with ease as I opened the door.

I was greeted to the wooden floor and white walls of the place I called home, the modern feeling to the place was nice. It had a kitchen with an island and a dining room off to its left near the door to the balcony which was right of the front door.

Serene shook her head and went towards my bedroom, probably to go sleep after the long day.

I sat down at the table and pulled the laptop out of my backpack and put the USB in. After a few clicks, the information on it started to flood the screen with files that included pictures and video of points of interest.

I narrowed down the amount of files to only the ones that I got today. Just the pictures were needed for now, I only needed to make sure that everything was fine.

The first picture was of a bunch of trucks with guns and ammunition, in the same shot were the forms of the driver and some guard. Truth be told, I have no idea why they would want guns out there in the first place. Is it some training site? Maybe a storage facility? Are they storing something there that's destroying their weapons enough for them to need more on a regular basis?

"Damn it…" I muttered to myself as I realized the other photos were corrupted. Stupid thing, I'll just get a new one, I don't want to deal with this thing again.

The one surviving photo would have to suffice.

A sigh escaped me as I got up and started walking over to the couch to watch some TV. I stopped myself short, seeing a Greninja and a Lucario sitting opposite from one another on different chairs watching what looked to be an anime of some kind.

The Lucario wore an orange bandana while the Greninja wore a sheath that housed a custom made knife.

"Gray, Aeon," I said to get their attention. They both lazily turned to face me. "Dare I ask what you two are watching?"

Aeon's aura flared up as he spoke, which was an odd quirk with his powers. "Something you and Jonathan were watching, Gray willingly agreed to watch it. Ain't that right mate?" A sly smile appeared as he gestured to the Greninja opposite of him.

"Did you lose a bet or something Gray?" I asked while glancing at him, who seemed to be hiding something underneath the emotionless mask that he had on. Gray seemed to be unnerved, sitting on the chair with one of his hands supporting his head as he seemed to fight off the idea of falling asleep. His other hand held his knife, which he threw into the air and caught every few seconds.

It was probably the only thing keeping him awake.

He grumbled something as he caught the blade one last time before getting up.

"Go get ya beauty sleep then." Aeon said in retort. Gray's right hand flashed bright blue as he threw a water shuriken lightly at him. Aeon yelped in surprise as the water shuriken got most of his chest wet. A glare was all he could manage to send back to him.

I stifled a laugh, no matter how many times this happened it never got old. Thankfully it never went beyond just verbal rivalry often. I noticed someone was missing, a particular Gardevoir.

"Any idea where Ruby is?"

Aeon paused the show and squinted his eyes briefly. "Your room I believe, she said something about maybe getting another bed and putting it in there to help deal with your nightmares." he pointed to my room down the hall, the door slightly ajar. Probably from Serene.

"She told you about the nightmares?" I asked defensively.

A look of sympathy washed over his face as he pushed play. "Eh, I already knew. Even when I'm sleeping I can feel what's happening around me. Can you bless me with the knowledge of what keeps thyself up at night?"

"I'd rather not talk about it, please just keep it to yourself."

"Aye aye, captain." Aeon muttered as I walked over to my room.

I peeked in the crack and saw Ruby with a picture sitting on my bed. She seemed to be staring off into space, not aware of her surroundings in the slightest. Quietly I slid past the door and entered, Ruby still unaware of my presence.

A small smile grew on my face. "Hola." I whispered into her ear.

Her eyes went wide as she jumped slightly on the bed, the picture getting thrown into the air and freezing in place. She groaned as realization came across her face. "It's not nice to sneak up on other people, Luke."

"It's also not nice to ambush people, Ruby." I retorted as I put my backpack down near my bed. "What are you looking at anyway?"

The picture levitated over to me as Ruby rolled her eyes.

It was a picture of my parents with Ruby in the center as they sat in front of our old house, my father's arm going around all of them. It was taken a few years before I was born judging by the date in the bottom right of the picture.

I found myself staring into it, reminiscing of all the memories I had of similar times. Oh how I wish I could go back. Back to when everything was simple and easy to grasp.

Ruby swiped it out of the air and made it disappear. "I'll leave you to yourself for right now." she seemed to have something on her mind. Before I had a chance to say anything back, she teleported away.

Time seemed to blur, I found myself staring at my reflection in the bathroom mirror with my toothbrush half-hanging out of my mouth like I was losing consciousness. I continued to stare, wondering if I should just leave this whole case up to a bunch of investigators. It technically wasn't my job, and I could be doing things that I liked with my friends.

"But who else would do it…" I muttered to myself. Nobody had the connections that I did, both external and personal. Or the will to complete it at any cost.

I seemingly closed my eyes for what felt like a second, finding myself suddenly on my bed. Tucked away in the corner of the room beside a window, allowing me to stare out into the cityscape of Central Veneto. The sprawling capital of the grand region of Veneta.

It was too distracting to look at. Especially as I tried to fall asleep.

There were plenty of things to be stressed about, and I only remembered these things as I try to sleep. More action was now needed on my investigation, pictures were good but were nowhere near the only thing I needed. There is a big need for me to commit, although I don't know if even that is enough.

I tried to push those thoughts to the back of my mind. There was enough to worry about already.

The thought of my friends getting involved really made me nervous. I can't calculate for them all, I'll mess up eventually and they'll get killed. Even my own Pokémon are an enigma despite the time I've spent with them.

The potential consequences were too great to risk. The last thing I want is more blood from people I care about on my hands.

I turned my thoughts towards my past traveling adventures. Me and Jonathan toured the world together before meeting Lance, however I'll always remember the ONE time I underestimated some kid in a red hat. His silence always sent a chill down my spine, he was so unreadable.

Now I really couldn't sleep.

I remembered how badly the recent Kalos league went, how a kid who lost the league still went on to save the world from some madman. You may not be the best at everything, but you can still make a difference.

I felt a little better about myself, but sleep still fled from my frail mind.

The sudden need for fresh air began to wrap around me like a chokehold, quietly I got up off my bed. My foot stopped and tripped on something.

I barely caught myself on my nearby shelf. A quiet sigh escaped me as I peered at the Pikachu and Fennekin both hunched over one another on a tiny little bed that was in the center of it. Thankfully the impact did nothing but slightly shake it.

I rose slowly off of it, waking them would be a death sentence for any semblance of sleep I could get. It's funny, even though I've spent my literal entire life with my current team I barely can predict them unless they were fighting.

I found myself rubbing a ring that my mom and dad had given me for my tenth birthday to be able to mega evolve any of my Pokémon that had the ability. It was one of the many aces I had up my sleeve, amongst my at times dirty style of battling.

After all, you don't win those big fights by playing fair. Even Lance of all people agrees with me on that.

I noticed that Gray's knife was out of its sheath, but for all I knew, Gray meant to leave it out. Perhaps maybe as a distraction for a thief, or maybe he left it out for my sake in such a scenario.

I looked back to the two sleeping Pokémon in the tiny bed, I could practically hear their child-like laughter echo in my head. Shock and Ashley, it was like they thought that the world was theirs alone to conquer. A smile crept across my face at the remembrance of their blissful ignorance at the world's problems, it gets harder every day to keep them unaware for their sakes.

Something lit up on my nightstand briefly, snapping me out of my recollection. I nearly tripped again on something else, my balance thankfully being kept.

The supposed object I tripped on was not an object but Serene. I felt her coles of brush up against my legs after disturbing them. They curled up slightly towards my bed as I realised that she was actually underneath it again.

A book was beside my bed that laid open, I could only make out that it was a recently published science book from the contents of pages that were readable. I picked it up and closed it softly, sliding it carefully underneath my bed where Serene would probably appreciate it being put. Her coils were seemingly guarding the underside of my bed like an impenetrable wall, leaving me unable to even see if she was still awake reading something.

However I couldn't care less if she was still awake or not, she could do what she wanted so long as nobody was awoken by her activities during the hours of the night. I snatched my phone from my nightstand, being careful to avoid Serene's coils as I made my way to the door.

I opened the door as quietly and quickly as possible, since it loved to squeak at the most obnoxious of times. Carefully I closed the door behind me, I could see Jonathan's room opposite to mine, who was sharing the apartment with me.

Although I knew he wasn't here, I wonder how he's doing.

As I crept through the living room, the TV was still playing the show Aeon the watching. Although he was fast asleep with his arms draped over the couch and the remote on his right side. Disturbing the scene would possibly wake him up.

The cool breeze of the night filled my lungs as I stepped out onto the deck. Clearer thoughts started flowing through to relieve me from the slog I was in. There were two chairs and one table that was often laid off to the side due to having minimal use. I sat on the chair to the right, giving me a grand midnight view of Central Veneto.

A particular presence formed behind me. I knew who it was, although I acted like I didn't notice. Whatever surprise I thought Ruby was going to try disappeared as she took a seat beside me.

"So where'd you get that cut?" she pointed at my cheek.

I rubbed it instinctively, it wasn't bleeding anymore but it did still sting slightly upon touch. "A fight with a Seviper, a simple miscalculation and nothing more."

"And the weird psychic imprint on you, what were you doing with Serene anyway?"

"Speaking of the weird psychic imprint, would you like to help me with-"

"No, Luke, I mean it," she outstretched her hand and in a soft green glow the wound on my cheek disappeared. "Cuts and broken bones I can heal, but destroying your mind with whatever you're doing is something I most certainly cannot fix." her gaze intensified. "So how'd you do it?"

I sighed while clasping my hands together. "I had a theory about psychic abilities and it was correct. I wanted your help perfecting it for… safety reasons I had." Ruby shook her head slightly. "Nothing went wrong." I added.

"If you say so," I could hear the skepticism dripping off her voice like venom. "Helping you possibly rip a hole in the fabric of reality sounds fun."

I noticed that she had a very particular sword on her hip, one of my finished prototypes. I find it odd that she had it. "Are you going somewhere with that? And can't you make your own?"

"Mine can't channel electricity. And yes I am going out, to see Vence more specifically." Ruby rolled her eyes as her right hand began to glow slightly as pink and black energies materialized into a rapier. She jokingly pointed it at me.

I didn't respond in any way, knowing that she had something to say that had nothing to do with sheer coincidence. Suddenly a more serious look washed across her face with a tone to match.

"I know that you know that I know about your little investigation. Why are you doing it anyway if you're so emotionally betrayed by it?"

I met her gaze with one just as intense as hers. "Because no one else is as thorough as me, nor has the will to complete it."

"Wouldn't you rather leave the past behind?" the sliding door closed with a flash of her powers. Her rapier disappeared as she gazed deeper into me. "I sort of understand not telling anyone, but why are you so fixated on the past and not your future?"

"I never make a mistake and not rectify it, this is personal, wouldn't you want the same peace of mind? For their sakes and not your own?"

"Yes I would, but I know the path you're taking leads to self-destruction." Her red eyes sparked a little in the moonlight.

I sighed, it was far more complicated than that. "That's a reason why I didn't want anyone involved," I frustratedly waved my hands in the air. "Because you or Lance or anyone that knows where this path could lead would try to stop me. I already doubt myself enough, I don't need anyone else doing the same."

Ruby's voice turned soft, taking my left hand in her right. "Then why continue?"

"I just bloody told you why." I angrily stated while tearing my hand away.

In a brief flash of light I found my chair closer to her, she narrowed her eyes as she leaned onto my shoulder. "You know what I meant." she sternly said, unmoving from my shoulder.

I spotted the necklace that my mom gave her a long time ago. A ruby lay in the center of it encased in gold, kept up upon her chest by a chain made of a metal that matches the strength of her own psychic abilities. The stronger she is, the more structured and grand it appeared. Often it shone brightly, just as bright as her, the shining gem of our lives.

"Why continue down a path you already know the ending to? Is that really a price you're willing to pay, Luke?"

I got up and leaned against the railing of the balcony. Already knowing where this would end up. "Yes."

"You know whatever you do affects us too, right?" she began. I could feel the stress she felt for me while mine vanished. "I feel more than just your stress. No matter how hard you try to hide it, I can feel your pain. I know it hurts, I bear it too. But you have to realize that we can't fail you if we were never given the chance."

I tensed up, many emotions that I didn't want suddenly flooded my mind. The intensity drained from her face and turned into a look of understanding, she pulled me into a hug that I didn't resist. "You're not wrong, it's dangerous, people could get hurt or worse. But you have to remember that we choose to follow you. All of us, even Jonathan would agree. Let us at least try before you take the worst option for yourself."

"I'll think about it." I said evenly.

She rolled her eyes after breaking the hug, leaning up on the railing next to me. "Sometimes I still see you as I did all those years ago, even though you've grown so much since then."

"Some things never change." I couldn't help but smile while adopting a similar tone to her.

Ruby began to slightly glow. "Well Tyrn, go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." she disappeared in a flash of light, leaving me alone once more. I took a deep breath while sitting back down, what she said before still on my mind as I took out my phone.

The first message was from Jonathan, a picture of him and a person with a black hat and dark skin wearing a white dress shirt and blue jeans. Lance's green eyes always stood out no matter what he wore, and his insistence upon looking like an office worker never helped much.

Another text accompanied it, sent by Lance, titled, 'The bigger they are'.

The prospective seems to be from Lance's phone, it starts with Jonathan overlooking a battlefield, mid-match no less.

"Get out of there and watch your flank." Jonathan shouted as a Steelix launched itself at a Flygon that was gliding through the air. The Flygon swooped below the Steelix and landed on the ground away from it.

The Steelix landed with a thud on the other side of the arena, it stopped moving and started returning the cold stare.

"What's your strategy here? I don't see this side of you very much anymore." Lance said with a snicker. Jonathan ignored Lance who was sitting next to him and looked to the Flygon. Who looked back at him briefly, awaiting its next orders.

He laughed slightly, standing up to issue his order. "Herra, show them why I hate sand."

The Flygon snickered to itself, before outstretching it's wings and blasting off the ground gracefully. It conjured some wind using its wings and created a sandstorm within moments of hitting the air.

The Steelix wouldn't take damage from the sandstorm, but I think I knew what he was going for...

The other trainer called out for the Steelix to use Dig to hide itself from the Flygon. Now I saw what he was going for, oh that poor soul. The Steelix dug into the earth quickly, leaving nothing behind as it disappeared.

"I do this for a living, I always have a strategy." Jonathan smugly said to Lance.

He then sat back down, Herra was already in position for the move. "Earthquake." he uttered.

Herra raised itself up before she smashed the ground viciously, violent shaking and tremors rocked the area they were battling in, kicking up dirt. The Steelix jumped to the surface, it was incredibly injured in the attack.

Just about anything could knock it out. It looked that Jonathan should win, but I knew anything could change at any moment.

"Don't get cocky, I've seen situations like this play out in the opposing 'mons favor before." Lance mused.

Jonathan laughed. "What could possibly happen? Herra, Bulldoze." Herra flew through the air to stomp the Steelix into submission.

With a roar of newfound strength it jumped into the air, baring Ice Fang. Herra stopped her attack, surprised at its sudden burst of energy. She attempted to swoop away from it as it lunged at her. Twisting around as it rapidly caught up and sending a mud-slap its way.

The Steelix twisted its tail around and hit it back at her. Herra cried out as it hit her in the eyes and sent her to the ground, the Steelix caught her with an ice fang and threw her into the ground.

The Steelix stared down at her, she was out.

"And that's why you never let your guard down." Lance sighed as Jonathan fought to keep a neutral look on his face. He returned Herra before setting her down on a chair.

"I've won five out of the six one on ones with this kids Pokémon, I still won overall." he said with his pride not hurt in the slightest. Jonathan then looked over at Herra, who still had some ice stuck on her wings. "You tried, that's all that matters."

She managed to weakly smile happily back.

The video ended there. Can't say I'm not surprised Jonathan would find a way to lose that. At least he knows what he's doing whenever he's actually needed to be serious.

The second notification was another message from an anonymous number...

_I got everything, all you need to do is show up at the designated location tomorrow then we can discuss the plan and how we execute it._

I sighed, everything is just getting thrown at me all at once. Maybe Ruby is right, having others does alleviate some of the stress when they choose to bear it.

I got up and took one last look at the grand city of Central Veneto, before going inside at a rather sluggish pace.

Aeon hadn't moved at all, while the TV had turned itself off from minimal use. I wondered if Aeon meant to fall asleep to spite Gray tomorrow as I got closer to my room. The door opened and closed without squeaking to my relief. Carefully I put my phone on its charger and got into bed, one last thing was now on my mind.

There is no turning back, even Ruby knows that. If she's so adamant about being there for me despite the potential consequences, then I'll have to adapt. I am a quick-thinker after all, shouldn't be too hard to put some things in play if everyone wants in.

My mind finally started to calm, I could see things in my mind, things from my childhood. When things were so much simpler and easier to grasp, I wish'd that I could stay forever, but I knew what awaited me when I am to awaken.

Maybe I am just fresh out of luck.


	2. The Lance and his Ghost

**Revised for the 2nd time, next up is chapter 3...**

* * *

It was far too cold for my liking.

Luke and Jonathan always insisted upon having their damned air conditioning up here on full blast. Now I'm sitting here at my desk, alone, doing paperwork and setting meetings up. That Luke will try to avoid like the plague while I freeze here.

I sighed while a slight shiver came over me, a feeling of something powerful oncoming came with it. I knew who it was, the silent watcher of souls. [Getting a little cold for you, Comrade?] a Dusknoir appeared through a wall, carrying a piece of paper.

"It's bearable, nothing compared to our last adventure into the Crescent mountains…" I spun my chair around slowly, the cold of those mountains biting at my skin from memory alone. Everything felt suddenly so much warmer, count my blessings.

A hearty laugh came from him. {Maybe next time don't try to set a base up on a desolate mountain.] he put the paper down on my desk. [I overheard that this was for you, something about yet another idea on how to revise the current system on 'surprise encounters' with citizen Pokémon in the wild.]

I started reading it.

_Dear Champions, I know that laws about trainers or citizen Pokémon mistakenly attacking each other out of surprise in the wild are both a complicated mess and very controversial to talk about. However current laws from many peoples views seem to favor Pokémon over humans-_

I scrunched it up into a ball and tossed it into the garbage can near Luke's desk. To hell with that and whoever wrote it. The Dusknoir laughed again. [Not impressed?]

"No matter how many times I say it, Dmitri, people never believe me. The laws treat both Pokémon citizens and humans the same, meaning they get the same punishments for breaking them." I sighed, remembering one extremely controversial case. "How is it a Charizard's fault when some dumbass kid surprises it from behind and gets sent to the hospital for it with third-degree burns?"

Dmitri folded his arms behind his back and faced the window. [Are humans not protective of their young? I'm sure that played a part.]

"Indeed it did, people forget that there is a risk with going out there and adventuring. Sometimes reality burns people harder than any flame…"

[Hotter than the flame that kid endured?]

I laid my head down on my desk for a moment out of disappointment for setting him up, and to stifle a laugh. "Leave it to you to completely miss the point I was trying to make."

[I mean it though, Comrade, a burn on a Charizard does next to nothing to it. A human youngling however, will be in much higher danger compared to any Pokémon.]

I turned my seat to face him, a small smile present. "Why do you think we openly tell everyone the worst case scenarios? We don't hide anything, if anything, we try to get people and kids away from training. Don't want your kid getting fried? Then teach them what's so scary out there in the dark. I am not going to bend the knee to a bunch of parents who do not know how to do their only job. You have to be sixteen to even get a licence without parental consent."

[And you do try to protect them as much as possible. Those late nights I've seen you go through trying to figure out solutions to this problem…] he turned to face me, his arms behind his back still. [Say a child comes across a Pokémon citizen and the Pokémon starts a fight for whatever reason. Both sides say the other is wrong when questioned. What happens then in court?]

I thought for a moment, those situations rare as they may be, do indeed happen still. "Then we get a psychic to help uncover both sides' motives. If they're telling the truth, then they shouldn't have anything to hide. If both sides end up having the same motive of surprised self defense like in similar scenarios, then since it's all a misunderstanding and it'll be easy to resolve. But you'd get some conspiracy theorists saying we use those psychics to read the minds of the populess and get information to use against the people."

[Assuming all the psychic Pokémon behave themselves accordingly…] he omitted ominously.

"You're absolutely right, which is why you take multiple sources so that never happens." I pulled a letter out of the drawer in my desk, putting it in front of me as I pondered what to do with it. "We have enough problems with psychics as is with the Scarlet Monarch breathing down our necks currently, over trainers trespassing onto off-limits territory."

Dmitri shook his head slowly, lowering his voice as he spoke with some aggression. [That witch of a Gardevoir matriarch will be your doom if you aren't careful, Comrade. She's infamous in the Pokémon wilds for a reason.]

"Relax, Luke has at least six methods of apprehension for her specifically should things go south. I trust him enough to know what he's doing in that regard. But I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't want to talk to her before any drastic moves are made in the future."

He shook his head dismissively. Sighing before gesturing to the city with his right hand. [What if your words aren't enough? What actions are you willing to take? I've seen Luke's drive, he's more than ready to do whatever it takes to accomplish something without even saying a word.]

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," I took another set of papers from my drawer. "For now, I have matters concerning Pokémon citizens to solve."

[Wild Pokémon asking for citizenship?] Dmitri asked as he looked over the papers I was holding.

I shook my head. "Wild Pokémon don't usually come to us to become citizens. Remember, most Pokémon citizens are ex-military because they are taught a lot of things that Pokémon in the wild will have never heard of. Pokémon Centers double as a place for giving wild Pokémon a place to learn, in an effort to hopefully make things safer out there in the wild. Most decide to stay in the wild as predicted, very few ever want to become citizens. So long as they have shown full-sentience and abide by our laws, then they can call themselves citizens of Veneta after going through the proper processes."

[Right, you solved that and the Pokéball problem pretty easily with… DNA scanning or something. What issues are you referring to then?]

I sighed audibly, this job really was never as glamorous as advertised. Maybe that's only because we volunteered to be a part of the political stuff. "Jobs, owning property, things like that. Out of the couple thousand Pokémon citizens that are currently in the database, only around two hundred still live in the forests or mountains. Just to give you a prospective of everything I have to take into account."

[In my small talk with other Pokémon when I'm out doing things for you, few ever complain about something that needs improving. Maybe everything they have right now is enough.]

"Maybe, humans and Pokémon are wildly different after all. Both in understanding and wants, some Pokémon can learn these behaviors but never really show them to the same extent as humans. Maybe I am just over-complicating things..."

[Nonsense, Comrade. I've seen what makes this mantle you've taken so hard, and I respect you greatly for it. Few humans or Pokémon can ever say they try their dearest to talk things out before any actions are taken.]

"If you had to choose between Luke or Jonathan to start doing the stuff I normally do, who'd you pick?" I asked as I bundled everything together and put it back into my near-overflowing draw.

He paused for a moment, some expression of worry on his face. [You're confining me to pick between a ruthless tactician with no semblance of mercy in his body anymore, and a security nightmare that is really social. Both could work in their own respects, but neither should do it alone. But if I really had to pick it'd be Luke.]

"Ruthless tactician or not, he gets whatever is in front of him done." I stood beside Dmitri, looking out into the city of Central Veneto. A feeling of foreboding spreading throughout me. "And that's what scares me about him. He's so zealous that oftentimes he gets in far too deep, far too fast. And his recent behavior suggests he's doing something by himself again, I pray it doesn't get him killed."

[He's a survivor, born and raised. If anything, I'm worried about who he's put in his crosshairs.]

My desk phone started to ring, I sighed and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello, this is the spokesperson from Alhertz Industries you spoke with yesterday. We were wondering if you have reconsidered possibly-"

"No, I already stated why this wouldn't work. I haven't budged and I never will, stop calling." I hung up and put the phone back where it belonged. I swore things just got more complicated the more I tried to reason with it.

[Weird corporate people asking for partnerships?] Dmitri asked.

I sighed and got up, seeing that I needed to check on someone before I left for something rather important. "Same people as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that… I really don't know what more to say to them other than get lost."

[Maybe that's for the best. Comrade, I would like to retire to my Pokéball right now if you wouldn't mind.]

I unattached his ball and pointed it at him. "No problem Dmitri, see you later." he bowed his head slightly as he disappeared into his Pokéball. I took that as my queue to leave the office behind and go downstairs to check on Jonathan.

Last night was fun but tiring, I was barely staying awake throughout the night. I wonder how him and Luke do it so much and so well. Maybe I'll ask them eventually. I left my office behind, looking through the hallway window that overlooked the battlefield. Currently one was going...

A Blaziken was ripping the defenses of its opponent down. Fire raged from its body, exploding as its tendrils dissipated into smoke with every hit it made. Each punch was a blur, punctuated by the Blaziken sidestepping or jumping over an attack.

The tired form of the Pokémon was launched backwards by a powerful kick, coughing as it collapsed, promptly returned into its Pokéball. The trainer looked shocked at the speed his opponent was going.

Jonathan's overwhelming force never gets old to witness; the only way to describe it would be Blitzkrieg. A certain level of calculated nature was involved in it, his pride is staring his opponent in the eyes as hope drained from them. I'll never forget how he decimated my team when we first met. And how much has changed since then, or how little. Now all three of us are basically equal in battling and experience. Doesn't change how hard it is to fight him though, and I doubt it ever will.

Jonathan's opponent chose their Pokémon and the battle resumed. The Blaziken charged with its fiery blaze trailing right behind it. Its determination to win like an aura anyone could feel. I could hear Jonathan's shouting of morale-boosting proclamations from here.

I tore my gaze from the battle as I got into the elevator down. I didn't feel like taking stairs today, let alone a few flights. I wanted to talk to him briefly about some things, he should be just about done by the time I get to him. I felt sorry for his opponent, they definitely didn't prepare well enough for him even if it was just a 'friendly' battle.

While he is sociable and loves to be the life of the party, he's damn near merciless on the field of battle. Rivaled only by Luke, who is in his own right a force to be reckoned with. I felt sorry for his opponent for failing to see that.

Now it was only a matter of 'when' he wins.

The elevator dinged as the doors opened, I took a deep breath and briskly walked across the outside of the closed off battle arena to Jonathan. The spectacle was still ongoing, I realized that Jonathan didn't even bother to mega evolve his ace throughout the battle. Must be bored enough to have forgotten he could even do it probably.

I open the door to the booth using my ID and stand in the doorway as Jonathan's Ace finished his opponent off.

Jonathan sighed as he looked away from the battle. "Sky uppercut, let's end this now."

I couldn't see much from the angle, only that his ace dashed side to side before the form of the opponent Abomasnow was sent sailing into air before crashing to the ground.

The speakers announced his victory. "ABOMASNOW IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, JONATHAN AND QUIN ARE THE WINNERS." I winced slightly at the volume, a little ringing in my ears. Maybe I should fix that later…

Quin approached from the field, looking rather bored and smug. Jonathan flashed him a thumbs up. "Great work Quin, as usual." The Blaziken beat its chest with its right arm in pride. "Now to get Luke here now that the warm-up is done…"

"Guess they never stood much of a chance." I said, interrupting his chain of thought. He turned to face me in surprise, quickly recovering his posture.

He smirked as he mimicked me, leaning on the wall with a Pokéball in his hands. He glanced over at the opposing trainer. "That's insinuating I was awake to rate the experience. This was a warmup only, but c'mon I need something more." he shook his head. "Were you watching this? Or…"

"I was watching bits of it, I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh?" Jonathan perked up. "What errands am I running this time?"

I chuckled a little as I shook my head. "No errands this time, I swear. I wanted to know if you and Luke were free tonight, I've got something more complicated than just an 'errand' to run for all three of us."

"I dunno, me and Luke were supposed to go at it here today…" he suddenly stopped and looked at his phone. He widened his eyes in shock, laughing a little at whatever he saw. That isn't a good sign. "Luke wants me to meet him at the usual coffee place to help him with something… rather intriguing."

"What's he wrapping you into?"

"Some sort of raid, doesn't want anyone else to know. Wants to meet me in person to discuss further details…" he sighed as he lazily threw a Pokéball into the air and caught it. I closed the door behind me and stood with my hands in my pockets.

Well I guess I know what he's been up to then, hopefully it isn't as bad as last time. I could feel a little dread in me fester. "I figured he'd be doing something like this, he has a knack for being where he shouldn't."

"Heh, to think he's gotten all the hard work done without me, it's despicably nice of him."

Something told me a whole lot more was brewing just below the surface just out of my sight. That Luke had something more than just a typical and perfectly normal Monday night 'raid' planned. No, he's probably been at this for a lot longer then he's going to let on, meaning Luke's letting us know only because he's given up trying to go alone. Whatever he needs Jonathan for must be more dangerous than he's saying, meaning I'll need to move quickly to catch up as a safety net for the both of them…

"I know I tell you this a lot, but this time I really do mean it. Be careful. Whatever Luke is doing has to be more dangerous then what he's letting on, alright?"

"Sure, sure." Jonathan dismissively waved his hand. "I know what I'm-"

The distinctive ding of the doors opening prompted me to turn around. "Your transport is here, sir. And someone also wishes to see you in person by the front room." a woman in uniform said.

"We'll discuss this further later, right now I have things to attend to. Remember, be careful." I followed her out but stopped in the doorway, looking at Jonathan one more time. A small grin on my face. "Happy hunting, Champion."

The doors clanged shut and I started walking away, I nearly ran into a Gallade that was headed to the door. Vence, one of Jonathan's team members. I paid little attention. I had to see whoever wanted to talk to me before I left, and I had the funniest suspicion that they were from Alhertz Industries. If they are… oh it'll be a field day and a half. I hastily trudged into the front room. Seeing a man in a typical suit and tie with combed brown hair and brown eyes. You couldn't get any more 'lord corpo' then this.

Dear Arceus I've had enough...

"Thank you for coming, Champion Lance-"

I stopped just in front of him and aggressively jammed a finger at him. My patients was running thinner than strands of hair. "Are you from Alhertz Industries? Yes or no."

He laughed nervously, backing away a step. "Wh- why yes I am-"

"Oh that's great news then," I hastily started walking back from where I came in from. "Please never come back, you'll be wasting only your own time."

Relief swept through my entire body. But the feeling of anger and annoyance still lingered. If they come back, I'll let Dax and Ervik deal with them. Press can spin it however they want, my actions at this point are justified. I tried talking, like I always do, and this time it didn't work. I had to take the stairs to the helipad since the elevator didn't go up to the top for some reason, a design flaw I'll have to get someone to fix eventually.

Man this place is wonderful for the eye, but functionally a nightmare. Whoever originally started this 'modernizing' of the castle really made some shortcuts that are coming to bite us in the arse now. If someone wanted to slip in, they'd come in through the basement. Or at least they would have...

Luke assigned some psychics-types and ghost-types to watch the area in that event. He's prepared for just about anything, as of late he's even been tightening security for unknown reasons. I didn't know many details about what goes on inside his head. Luke is so hard to read, it's almost like he's playing a different game entirely from everyone else.

And honestly, I'd rather not know everything. I shook my head and sighed as I opened the metallic door to the roof and helipad. I put my hand up to cover my face from the bright sun bearing down on me, I could see someone in the helicopter flash me a salute as they gestured to a seat. The helicopter itself was all black, glossy, sleek and looked cutting-edge. It was a military helicopter, the cabin and outside looked sparse with the decor on it, only having the insignia of our military on the outside of it. Depicting a Pokéball surrounded by the symbols for each type, between two men saluting the opposite way from one another. Rifles slumped on their shoulders.

Briskly I jumped in as the propellers started kicking up the surrounding wind. I sat opposite from the man who waved me in, wearing a red military beret atop his white hair and solemn expression. He looked aged with a fire burned behind his hazel eyes, and I doubt age could ever take it from him. He straightened out his black vest that was overtop of his dark green military garments.

He flashed me another small salute, I felt obligated to do the same out of respect. "Welcome aboard, Champion." his voice sounded old but firm and assertive. "I say we get down to business…" the helicopter took off, leaving the castle behind.

"If you wish, General Schneider. Have you managed to convince your peers of the idea? Or am I going to need to convince them."

"Call me Scott, and as much as I'd love to say to you that all of us directors, generals, and admirals all agree on what needs to be fixed in our glorious region, I'd be lying. And we all know what happens to liars in our grand military. Most of them are not in agreement with us." he shook his head, clearly annoyed with his peers.

I nodded along, knowing his struggle all too well. "It's alright, I'll try and do my thing." complications were sure to happen, hopefully my voice will not go to waste.

"Mind if I vent a little?" I nodded at his request. He sighed heavily as he leaned back. "I'm just getting so tired of it all, first our own damned research started getting stolen right out from under our noses. Then we start a war against a threat that we can't even see. Then Champion Luke catches a spy in the bloody act and NOBODY is listening apparently. Saying that it isn't our problem, but the problem of Internal Affairs and the Justice department to fix. At this point, you actually are our only hope in that regard."

"We try our best, like I'm sure everyone else is. We just need to keep a calm demeanor and lay out the facts of this matter. Then I'm sure we'll have authorization."

A small smile grew on the General's face. "Lets pick a deity and start praying then, maybe one of them will smile upon us all. Personally I'd go with Cresselia, hopefully to stop this whole nightmare."

"Why not the fabled Swords of Justice? Surely now would be a time for justice to run its course through our region's enemies." Justice is something needed more than ever nowadays, it seems like a finite resource at best. And I was curious about Scott's pick.

"Justice can be twisted either way, are you familiar with what we used to say about swords back in history? The weapon itself is always neutral when it's on the ground, but the second someone picks it up, it takes on whatever intent the wielder has for it. And honestly, this whole situation reminds me of the war…" he seemed to distance himself mentally from something. Shaking his head slightly as he sighed. "Unholy nightmares to which there was no end. Cresselia only seems natural, a guiding light through all this hardship. Hopefully to lead our glorious region out of it."

He really was out of his element, clearly better at fighting an enemy he could see. But still just as patriotic about defending Veneta from any threat. I respect him for it, he's served for a long time with such fervor seemingly always present.

Scott sat up straight as the helicopter landed. Our landing zone being some base south of Central Veneto. "Well Champion, hope you prayed long and hard. We're about to shake hands with a few devils." Scott wasted no time in practically bolting out the helicopter and down some stairs into an elevator. I followed as closely behind as I could.

The elevator took us underground judging by the button he pushed, having to swipe his ID on a scanner before being able to use it. The doors opened, greeting me to a hallway that led off into a much bigger room. The room was dark, a giant TV was on the wall giving off light, and a large table for what looked to seat upwards of thirty people. Everyone was already seated, talking amongst each other.

I followed Scott to two vacant seats, I sat beside him and started getting acquainted with my surroundings. Taking a mental note of everyone as well, something Luke would probably do. Hopefully they are open minded enough for me to get some support at least.

Scott whispered into my ear. "Welcome to a place where nothing ever gets done."

I looked him in the eyes, a small grin growing on my face. "By the end of today, something **_will_ **be done."


	3. revisions incoming

**So, I just revised this chapter on April 20th, let me know what you think.**

* * *

I couldn't help but smile briefly at his sarcasm, he was trying his best to keep us safe in his own way. I couldn't blame him for anything he was doing. Maybe that's why he feels so torn over it, with every second I can almost hear his fight within his mind over it...

But no matter how much I tried to think about it, I couldn't understand why he'd go and do something like this by himself. He has us to help him when he needs it.

Slowly I crept into his mind with subtly and

"Don't," Luke murmured towards me, he knew what I was doing.

Suddenly everything hit me all at once, causing me to feel lightheaded and off balance. All the information threatened to overwhelm me as it tore through my mind like a knife. Gradually I composed myself, finding that I was staring at the floor with my thoughts foggy and a mild headache starting to fester.

I shook my head, maybe now I can convince him.

"Will it be worth it?" I asked him while putting a hand to my head.

He mimed my position as a desire I've only seen a few times in him before flashed through him. "Would I do something like this if it wasn't?"

Little fragments of frustration began to seep through me, I knew full well that he was doubting himself even now. "Is this what you want?" I nearly shouted at him as my voice rang through the room. "To start a fight that nobody will want to save you from because of the way you treated everyone around you who just wanted to help?"

He didn't even blink at my outburst.

A sigh escaped him, he seemed very disinterested in what I said. "To you? maybe. To everyone else? Nothing new has happened that's been out of the ordinary. You're only acting like this because, may I remind you, you're the only person who knows."

"I'm… still here?" Serene awkwardly announced. She seemed to be curled up away from us, probably not wanting to get involved in this whole ordeal that is probably going to get more complicated down the line.

Luke turned around and looked at her briefly before responding with a small smile on his face. "Do I even need to go into detail why you wouldn't tell anyone whether you knew or not?"

"Are you saying that'd I'd be too scared to tell anyone?" she asked.

Before Luke had a chance to respond, I butted in. "He's trying to say that he trusts you to not tell anyone because you usually don't tell people much of anything as is."

"And also because I asked you yesterday to 'conveniently' not remember what we were doing." he added. "I'll only let you help if I can guarantee that the odds of anyone dying are zero, lest you forget that I'd rather not have to bury any of you."

Serene seemed to nod in agreement before attempting to read again, she was satisfied with his answers.

"I know there is more to it." I simply stated. "I can see something more, something that's just out of my power's passive reach. Something that even you are scared of."

I couldn't find the answer even with what I had gotten when I briefly read his mind, I could tell he was hiding it from me specifically.

Some sort of shift occurred in his mind as he spoke, getting more on edge. "You've seen me get… passionate with my work, right? Well I'd rather not have people see what I can be when I'm in such a state because I wouldn't be thinking correctly. I'd be acting off of impulse and desire, and they make very bad moment to moment decisions when given the chance."

It hurt to hear him say that about himself, he was a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he wasn't close to being like what he just described himself to be. That's why there was self doubt, he didn't even trust himself.

I couldn't blame him though, I would be doubtful of my own abilities as well if put in a situation as him. But I have to keep in mind that he's a human. Unlike Gardevoir or Gallade who have their mental powers and imprints of who they are, humans can lose themselves if they don't keep an eye on their own goals, motives, and identity.

He thinks that he lost his, and is trying to rediscover it.

"Then have us there to keep you in check." I softly offered to him, hoping he'd take a compromise.

He sighed in defeat, finally seeing our side. "Fine, I give up, your blood is on your own hands. I'll just show you what I have so far and we can go from there."

"The big thing that started off my investigation was connecting the murders of Ben and Nichole Davidson to a particular group, one rumored to be working for a company in the region known as Alhertz Industries."

He then shook his head, all the hours spent looking into it flashing across his mind.

"Anyway," he said while composing himself. "Alhertz Industries creates and sells Pokeballs and other equipment here in Veneta and sometimes exports outside to Kalos when they are able to. But the real thing where all their money goes is into funding research advancements on things like cloning and body modifications, like creating organs for people or completely creating a new arm for someone. The more secretive portion is that they help fund weapons research and other more… iffy things."

Luke then went over to his laptop that was charging on the kitchen table and got a bunch of pictures up. "As you can see, they even use their own vehicles to transport weapons and other less legal things."

A few photos were on the laptops screen, depicting trucks that had the Anon Industries logo on them being loaded with weapons ranging from assault rifles to what looked to be explosive devices, from angles that appeared to have been taken on foot.

"Did you take these photos?" I asked him.

"Yep, I won't be going to the police with it because of the 'suit', but I can just send some of my own people instead, the problem is that I don't trust very many of them."

"Do you have anything else other than circumstantial evidence then?" I asked while yawning, I was strangely tired.

Without responding he got up and started going through his backpack.

"Yea, but it could be stopped dead in its tracks by the fact it's technically a conspiracy at the point I'm at." he said grimly.

He then zipped up his backpack and sat back down with a USB in his hand. Swiftly he plugged it into his laptop and was greeted to what looked to be an error sign.

I sprawled back into his chair with a sigh, annoyed immensely. "Going to have to let it decrypt again because I forgot to make a copy." Luke grasped his forehead in annoyance.

"So you went out to see Vence last night?" he suddenly asked, clearly trying to pass the time while we waited for whatever it was to decrypt.

I was happy about the change in subject to something a little less serious. "Yep, my dear 'Tysrin' has been doing fine. We had a duel last night, it was close but he won still even though I had your sword."

"That Gallade is something, he takes after Jonathan a lot more than I like to think." he mused..

I grasped my shoulder as a bruise from last night began to hurt a little. I saw it more as a trophy, he hit me hard and fast and that's what I like about him so much. All this time caring after Luke and everyone else has made me want something more, and he seems to want the same thing.

Now it's something more unexpected, though Luke doesn't know… I think.

"How about you, Serene?" he said as a smile crept across his face.

Silently I translated everything for him to hear her properly.

"I've been fine, was mostly watching Shock and Ashley for most of the day yesterday because they nearly started a fire in the kitchen again." she said while slithering up behind him.

"That was them?" Luke retorted. "Damn, guess I know what not to leave on the counter next time I leave you alone."

Everyone laughed for a moment.

"What were you doing yesterday?" I asked him with a smile starting to creep across my own face.

"Other than taking a few pictures and confirming a few suspicions. I talked with Lance about politics briefly, all the while dodging any person that recognized me." he responded.

"I'll be right back." he added while getting up and going towards his room.

Leaving me and Serene to ponder what Luke is wanting to get himself into.

I realized the feeling that he has had so much of was hate, enough of it that it could make Ralts flee upon feeling it. Could I blame him for it? No, I couldn't, no matter how much I want him to drop it and move on, he simply can't.

I felt the same wants as him; I just have a better time ignoring them and stopping it from ruining my day. However I don't feel any guilt about what happened, he does and it's killing him.

Slowly but surely, if I don't try to help, he will destroy himself chasing after respite.

But I have to be careful with what emotions I choose to show and act upon, Luke doesn't to an extent. The wrong emotions in huge intensities can cause Gardevoir to go insane or die. I spent most of my life trying to be able to control what I sensed from other people so I wouldn't get overwhelmed, yet it still almost happens from time to time.

I just don't want to lose him as well.

I heard footsteps from behind as Luke walked down the halway back towards us. "Just making sure I have everything." he said as he sat back down beside me.

I was barely able to keep myself awake, whether it be because of my headache or from last night.

Slowly his words began to have no meaning.

I closed my eyes for what felt like a second and found myself suddenly drifting alone in an inky black void. My powers told me that I had fallen asleep, and that I couldn't wake up yet. The feeling was odd, I could feel all his emotions at once like I linked to him even though I didn't touch him before I fell asleep. I focused intensely and my mind slowly cleared, like a curtain was pulled back on a stage to reveal something in this inky black dreamscape. Maybe it would be good for me to just rest for a little bit. Last night really did a number on me, and I'd rather be fully alert than dozing off later.

The blackness suddenly shifted to a field of flowers on a mountain plateau, it was warm with a cool evening breeze with the sun setting in the distance behind some mountains. Some giant rocks dotted the landscape that looked to have been dropped from the sky itself.

"People say these rocks were dropped onto Kalos's advancing army by psychic Pokémon back during the old war." a young but familiar voice said.

I looked up and saw a younger version of Luke on the top of one of the many rocks, staring out into the sunset and plateau while sitting down. He was ten years old, fresh in the realm of training and battling, back when we used to travel around the world.

He was wearing a black and purple sweater with a Pokéball symbol in the center, it was unzipped and showed his black shirt just beneath it. On his head was a red hat, something I always wondered why he ditched. He wore light grey sweatpants and shoes that were at least a size too big for him.

I teleported beside him and sat down, a smile on his and my face. "People can say many things."

"Like you?" he retorted while stifling a laugh.

I rolled my eyes, reminded that his sense of humor was the same as always. "Does what I say hold no importance?"

"But mom and dad told me to not trust everything I'm told." he murmured.

I couldn't help but giggle for a moment. "I'd never want to lie to you, but what about you? Would you lie to me?"

He seemed to go into deep thought, musing about things that he barely understood.

"No, I wouldn't lie to you."

"Why?" I simply asked.

He looked up to the sky as a flock of flying Pokémon flew overhead into the distance. He stared at them, watching them go further out before disappearing in light of the sunset. He seemed to continue pondering the question silently.

"Because I trust you, I know you care for me like mom and dad and everyone else." he said while getting up and standing near the edge of the rock.

I kept a close eye on his movements in case his carelessness sends him off balance. "That's the reason why I wouldn't lie to you, because I do very much care for you like if you were my own child. Although sometimes it really does show, doesn't it?" I asked with a mischievous grin on my face.

"You can say that again, 'mom'-"

He suddenly lost his balance and tripped over the edge.

I could feel the fear that flashed through his entire mind hit me as I froze him in the air with a snap of my fingers. It turned to relief as he slowly came back up to where I was, I set him down beside me, his spirit a little shaky after the near-injury experience.

I hugged him tightly which calmed him down. "I do care, I always will, no matter what happens." I reassured with a glow in my eyes.

Everything seemed to blur as I felt something move, something in the real world…

A loud bang tore through my mind and jumpstarted me awake.

Instinctively I tried to jump into a battle ready stance... only to remember that I was sitting on a chair. I yelped as I outstretched my hand to stop my fall with my powers.

Everything froze, including me thankfully.

Gradually I fixed myself and took a breath of relief.

"Are you even paying attention to what you're doing?" I heard semi-shouted from above me.

I realized that I had Luke pinned to the ceiling subconsciously, Serene was glancing back and forth between me and him with a worried look on her face.

"Sorry…" I apologized quietly as I put him back on the ground.

He sat back down on his chair and sighed, before returning his gaze to the laptop. "Did you dream of anything interesting at least?"

I drew him into a hug that he didn't resist, before sending him the memory that I saw. I let him go, a small but genuine smile now on his face.

The screen suddenly shifted to show a video that was paused, it looked like he opened it using a bunch of different softwares in order to view it. Luke pushed play on it, the view was from a security camera positioned up on a wall that was surrounded by buildings like an alleyway but had only two entrances to the area.

On the sides were numerous garbage cans or containers however in the center was a stone fountain, there were also barricades set up for some unknown purpose all around the square area.

Three heavily armored individuals enter the area with someone in a leather jacket in tow, all of them have an insignia of some sort on their shoulders.

The three armored humans had what appeared to be modified armor which was all black and had a helmet which apparently had glass in its front which went down and across their faces and allowed for un-altered vision but still gave protection, it looked like something you would see in a human made sci-fi movie. Their weapons appeared to be just a bunch of rifles that were suppressed, I couldn't name the model, Luke would probably know...

The man in the leather jacket stepped forward, he looked older than the rest of them, the other three people got out of his way like their lives depended on it.

He said something that was unintelligible while the person in the middle started to fish something out of one of his pockets.

Leather jacket guy took out what appeared to be a weird pistol of some sort, and walked back over to the third member of the group who then took out a weird looking Pokéball. The other two members got into a firing line formation covering the entrance they came in from.

The Pokéball opened, revealing a scared looking Espeon.

All of them tensed up, seemingly afraid of its power. The man in the jacket spoke after putting something into both his ears. "All of you be ready, in case the tech causes corruptions again."

The Espeon had all sorts of things on or fused to it, however the camera could only show one angle, but from what I could see it looked to be some sort of field experiment. It had a custom made helmet that allowed its ears to poke through, it also had all sorts of scorch marks and dents signifying that it has been used before.

I noticed that its front right leg was… metallic? I squinted in disgust at the clear signs of abuse.

Luke paused the video then looked at me and Serene, he spoke softly. "This is where things get a little intense, feel free to look away."

Neither of us budged even an inch.

The man in the jacket took a remote of some kind out of his pockets and pushed a button while pointing at a wall. The Espeon started to whine while aggressively scratching at it's helmet, seemingly in severe pain…

A muffled scream started to originate from the two in the firing line position, one was levitated into the air before literally getting crushed like a bug with a sickening crack as his screams were abruptly cut off.

The gun he had was frozen mid-air and opened fire on the guard beside it, having no time to react to his blood decorating the wall behind him.

The final guard took out the pokeball as fast as he could while it was all happening.

The Espeon was much faster than the final guard, knocking him to the ground with its hind legs while the man in the jacket grabbed the stray pokeball and activated it, a stream of light flowed from it as it tried to recover whatever that thing was.

It was resisting to the best of its own abilities, it was a losing battle normally…

Shots rang out from the firearm still frozen in the air, hitting him in the chest three times before the gun dropped, having run out of ammo.

The man in the jacket fell to the floor, clutching his wounds while shooting with his own pistol desperately.

Each bullet froze in the air, before dropping to the ground as the Espeon crushed the Pokéball with its metallic leg. With a glare on its face, it began to charge of an attack.

The Espeon's head rocked to its side as a crack of another firearm sounded off, dropping to the ground dead.

The last guard had gotten up just in the nick of time, barely being able to open fire in time.

The fight was over the man in the jacket started shouting over a radio, blood now pouring out of his wounds with the final guard getting some rolls of bandages out of one of his pouches, "NEED CLEANUP NOW AT-"

Luke paused the video, I briefly glanced at Serene who had a look that can only be described as foreboding on her face, her bent posture added to it.

He pointed at their insignias, they were shaped like diamonds colored white, the symbols were all black, same with any writing on them. They appeared to change from person to person, the man with the leather jacket had a much more detailed one then the grunts or guards that he had.

Guess it must signify rank in some way.

"Were they stupid enough to leave that camera like this?" Serene asked.

Luke quickly responded while flipping pages on his laptop. "This footage didn't come from my own digging, but the person I'm supposed to be meeting today at about 11:30 sharp."

"Don't you mean our meeting?" I said while glaring at him.

"Right, you me and Serene-"

"No Luke, enough of this trying to 'protect' everyone crap you're trying to pull, get Jonathan involved as well." I asserted bluntly.

"FINE," he shouted angrily. "But if anyone gets themselves killed, their blood is on YOUR hands."

Luke took a USB out from his laptop and put it into his backpack along with the laptop, before getting up and walking over to the front door to get his shoes on.

He pulled his phone out and motioned for us to follow. "I texted Jonathan to meet us at the coffee place we usually all go to, he should be there at the same time as it takes us to get there."


	4. Just a bunch of Conspiracy theories

Jonathan was currently in the middle of yet another battle, the arena he was challenged in was Central Veneto's more prestigious arena reserved for Champion challenges for either mastery or challenges coming from fellow higher class trainers typically possessing all 9 badges.

It was originally a castle that was later renovated to be a Champions headquarters/arena, with offices for businesses or military organizations with high prestige or influence or having an alliance with one of the current Champions.

It had a few floors all serving different purposes, the bottom one housing the arena and an elevator to the top where the Champion 'throne room' was, all official business happened in there.

The place had a history with its leaders going insane, from former Champions to kings of old, nobody truly knows why… But that tiny detail didn't matter to Jonathan, after all he wasn't insane, or at least he thinks so… 

* * *

"Damn that was fast." I muttered to myself as smoke billowed from a crater in the center of the arena.

A blur of orange appeared in front of me, revealing itself as Quin, my Blaziken.

Quin was currently steamrolling the kids Pokémon, which was surprising because he has been the only Pokémon I've used this whole match.

Maybe he should have adjusted his strategy better then just throwing everything he has at me. The first three Pokémon he sent out got blasted to a different plane of existence for having a type disadvantage, the other two were just outright outclassed.

The kids green shirt barely even fit him properly.

He looked thirteen, but the shirt somehow made him look even younger. Match that with his blue jeans being too big for him, and a face that looks like it's been through hell and back.

I could go on and on with myself, but a glance over to Quin shows he's getting a bit restless and really wanted this to end as quickly as possible.

The Abomasnow on the other end of the field was not looking forward for the next move to come its way.

"Use sky uppercut, send him packing." I don't even look at the kid or Quin while saying it. Partly because I feel a little bad, I don't even understand how he got all the badges.

One of the gym leaders is a fighting type fanatic and all of his Pokémon have had no experience from the looks of it when fighting one, maybe he just got lucky.

Like a bullet from a gun, Quin blasted off towards the Abomasnow on foot.

In response it Ice Punched the ground, which sent ice shards and dust around the battlefield.

Quin skillfully dodged one of the crystals by dashing to the side.

He rolled out of the way as another crystal smashed into the ground where he was.

One of the crystals landed in front of him, getting itself stuck in the ground.

Quin kicked it back.

It sailed through the air and slammed into the Abomasnow, stunning it for a few precious seconds of time.

He took advantage and kicked it right in its chin.

The impact sent it flying through the air.

It landed badly on its back, bruised and burned in areas it still managed to get back up… Before falling over.

And just like that it was out for the count, returned to sender.

"ABOMASNOW IS UNABLE TO BATTLE, JONATHAN AND QUIN ARE THE WINNERS."

The announcer's voice was very enthusiastic, despite there being literally only my other Pokémon watching, and the fact it was a complete steamroll.

Quin looked smugly at the kid, before starting to make his way over to me.

"Nice work Quin." I congratulated.

"Guess he never stood a chance." Someone behind me said.

I turned around to greet the voice.

Lance stood tall and mighty as usual, his presence alone seemed to draw respect out of almost anyone.

His black skin had a few scratches and bruises littered all over it, probably from a recent battle. The white shirt he was wearing had a few holes in it as well, his grey track pants however looked untouched.

His short black hair usually was hidden beneath a hat, but he wasn't wearing one, I found that particularly odd.

Those green eyes of his always seemed to complement his more laid-back personality, he's typically a fun guy to be around.

He was leaning against the sliding doors that went into the hallway you use to get to either side of the arena or to the shortcut to the elevator with his arms crossed.

I smirked while looking back to the kid across the 'field' who was staring into me, "That's an understatement. Quin hasn't even broken a sweat yet and I was borderline falling asleep, were you watching? or..."

Lance lightly chuckled, "I was originally coming here to get picked up by my ride to deal with some possible connections to the 'phantoms' in a series of stolen research cases. But I then got another call from Alhertz industries asking for a possible partnership to which I responded no to as usual. Then I ended up here, watching the last bits of your battle."

A ring tone went off…

Something big is about to go down, I can't explain more than I did some digging and am now suspecting a highly dangerous group of armed criminals is operating inside the city with a corporate entity giving them orders, I have a lead, meet me at the usual spot.

Guess Luke's been busy, I wonder what this 'lead' is, and could it tie with what Lance suspects?

I quickly type out a response, while talking to Lance, "Luke might already be two steps ahead of us again, he wants me to meet up with him and apparently help with a lead he has."

I'll be there 15 minutes, talking to Lance right now.

"I figured so," a little bit of dread was in his voice. "he has a knack for being where he shouldn't."

A woman burst through the door, it was one of the employees, "Sir, someone is here to see you and your transport is going to be here any minute now."

Lance turned to her with a frown on his face before looking to me briefly and huffing slightly, "If the person here to see me is from Anon, tell them no, if otherwise, you know where to find me."

He started off towards the door, "I have things to attend to, you should go help Luke investigate what he found," he stopped and turned around one last time. "happy hunting, Champion."

The doors closed, me and Quin were alone again.

Now to ask Luke what the extent of all this is.

The door opened again.

Vence, my Gallade, appeared in the doorway. His telepathy is an Arceus-send for me and my team, we may not have grown up together but we are close enough to have almost done so and the translating potential helps all the more. It's just a shame that he can't control it as well as Ruby.

[Ashley, Shock, and Gray are here, I think now would be a good time to move out.] he looked to Quin with a smile. [you did good, as always.]

"Yea, you did good Quin, mercilessly steamrolling a kids team."

Quin chuckled slightly.

[He said that you were the one giving the orders, so it's not his fault.]

Forgot that tiny detail, well I think it time I break the news and hurry up and get a move on.

"Aight, let's go quickly say hi and get everyone together because I have to brief you all on something real fast."

We exit the room and go down the hallway to the benches, upon entering the area I was greeted to the sight of the rest of my team communing with one another, Drite, a Dragonite, Yor, a Gengar, Herra, and finally Garris, a Scizor.

Aeon was also with us as well, he was bored so he tagged along for the ride, he was currently talking with Ashley, Shock, and Gray.

"Alright I have something to say." Everyone gathered around with varying levels of curiosity.

"Plans have changed, we ain't staying anymore because something big has come up involving Luke, he's got a job for us, we are meeting up with him at the coffee shop we usually go to for answers, any questions?"

Almost immediately all of them were either confused or curious. Aeon's aura flared up a bit as he tried to talk, "Has anything happened that we should be concerned about?"

I wryly smile, "Other than him giving this to me last second, nothing that I know of for sure."

I took a mental step back just to observe what's going on real fast, so Luke has something big involving conspiracy theories and Lance might also be looking into the same thing unknowingly. Luke has asked me to come with him with Lance also telling me it's a good idea, under normal circumstances I'd probably say something like 'sounds like a typical Monday afternoon' or some crap like that…

However, giving that even Luke seems a bit worried gives a new layer of insanity to this whole thing. I guess I now know why he begs me to just follow orders and do what is only necessary, it's stressful just thinking about it.

Well I guess it could stem from him just being the guy who cannot stand to be the person that could've prevented something and didn't, guilt is probably the factor…

I shouldn't be delving into that train of thought right now, I have enough on my mind as is.

It took a few minutes to get everyone packed up, nothing of interest sparked other then a little squabble between Aeon and Gray about Luke and didn't get any details. Drite broke them up thankfully.

Herra, as always, went through all of my stuff real fast to make sure I forgot absolutely nothing behind.

The 'castle' having been built nearer to the beach allowed for easy access to the rest of the city. Having lots of connecting roads or paths leading to it, the paths gave everyone who worked there an easy time getting to the 'castle'.

We only needed to follow a single road to the other side of the city where the coffee shop was.

After about ten minutes of jogging we all made it, I didn't use Herra or Drite to fly us there because I needed to get my stamina up, because Luke still very easily beats me in speed and stamina.

And because I didn't want to draw more attention, Flygons and Dragonites aren't exactly subtle, especially with my Champion status.

The street was bare of traffic and hardly anyone was walking down any of the sidewalks at the four way stop, buildings of various sizes surrounded the area with the cloudless blue sky.

It had a fountain in the center where people usually hung out, benches strewn around it and such. I spotted the coffee shop with nobody inside so we decided to go there and wait.

The door opened with a bell ringing at the same time. The owner was sitting behind the wooden counter, the room was a rectangle in shape not including the back room and upstairs.

All the seats had the color green somewhere on them, it was funny because it clashed with everything else that was in the shop itself.

The wooden walls and black carpet complemented the humble looks of the shop, despite it being probably the best local source for coffee I had ever had. Matched with the owner actually being nice was also great.

The man behind the counter stopped watching a small TV that was hung from the ceiling and looked over to me and my team, a small grin appeared on his worn but friendly face, "I swear your battles keep getting shorter."

I looked at the TV, it was broadcasting the last battle I had won today. It was a normal thing for companies to broadcast Champion's battles as they are usually very intense and draw a lot of viewers. However they typically only tried to do so if the battle was important, the battle I had won not even fifteen minutes ago was not very important in the slightest.

Perhaps it was broadcasted simply because nothing else that was remotely exciting was happening.

"At the point me and my team are at, we've peaked. Maybe we could try to be multi-regional but I'm pretty sure most places say no to that."

His grey eyes darted back and forth between me and the TV, "There is always a chance," he motioned his finger to the TV, the scene was when Quin kicked the ice shard back into the Abomasnow. "That's what separates the elites from the beginners, ingenuity, experience, and understanding."

The bell rang again as the door was opened as Luke along with Serene and Ruby entered.

"Ah, Luke, pleasure to see you again."

Luke looked warmly to him, a smile on his young but firm face, "Pleasure to see you too Bruce, how has the shop been?"

Bruce sat back down on his chair and clasped his hands together, "Rather busy as of late, it's surprising to see how many people are catching on to this little place, I pray that this shop remains as quiet as it currently is."

Everyone nodded.

Luke sighed before talking again, a more monotone voice taking point with the obvious intention of speeding things along, "Well, I'll still come here either way…" he drifted off and looked at the floor then me, obviously getting anxious. "I just need to talk to Johnathan right now, we'll be at the usual table, and I'll just have a white chocolate mocha please."

Bruce smiled and gestured to me, "Do you want anything as well?"

I shook my head, "No thanks." I wasn't feeling like having one, either the mood that Luke seems to be radiating, or the odd feeling of foreboding coming from Ruby.

I go to sit in the furthest seat away from the entrance on the other side of the building, our usual spot. It had enough room for everyone minus Serene, Yor, Drite, and Garris who usually all liked their pokeballs anyways.

Everyone sits except for Luke and Ruby, a little worry in both their eyes. Ruby tries to say something but Luke hushes her calmly while shaking his head.

Aeon and Gray start talking, what about is unknown to me but if I had to guess it had to do with Luke, expressions of seriousness having been plastered to everyone minus me.

I still don't understand how serious this situation is.

Luke and Ruby join us after he pays for his coffee, they sit and immediately Luke gets right to the kicker..

"I found some of the 'phantoms', and I'm doing some independant sting operations that I think you might have some interest in."

He takes a sip of his coffee, "I know this is rather last second, Ruby and Serene have already given me hell for it as I tried to go alone."

"We are going to meet my source, someone who is ex-military and knows their stuff, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty and is quite surprised that someone of Champion status would want to do things like him."

I interject as he takes another sip, "Let me guess, if we do things the 'normal' way, we'll lose?"

Luke nodded.

"Just because we do things by the book doesn't mean they are going to play by it, and as of late, an entire army might be hiding underneath our noses because of us playing by it." he stops to take another sip, giving me another chance to talk.

I roll my eyes, this stupid question has to be asked… "Why are we not just going to the Special Forces or Police? They exist for a reason."

Luke thankfully didn't explode all over me, "Bribery, people are getting paid off to not talk about them, meaning what else could they be using all the money they have on? It be stupid for them to not have at least a few informants telling them what cases are coming to either groups."

His concerns made sense. But he seemed oddly excited to get into it, maybe he's just bored.

I push my worries away for now.

Aeon's deep voice rings through his aura translation, "Is anything wrong? You seem more erratic than usual, and I can sense your emotions as well."

Luke sighs, "Nothing is wrong per-say, but this whole situation is stressful and its beginning to take its toll on me."

he took another sip before continuing, "I know all of you have been stressed because of my behavior, just know nothing has changed, everything is fine. I just wanted some things to stay buried." a surprising lack of sarcasm was noted.

Luke texts someone, before putting his phone back in his pocket.

"Well we better get going," Luke's face grows to a grin. "Conspiracy theories don't solve themselves now do they?"

Ruby rolled her eyes while getting up, "You should've told your source sooner."

I squint a little, "What do you mean?"

"Ruby saw me contacting the guy we are going to see, letting him know we are coming out to his place."

I get up, remembering that I'm a bit shorter than him by a few inches, "We going to walk or fly there?"

"Neither." Ruby lifted her hand up and it began to glow.

The glow enveloped everyone as I closed my eyes.


	5. The Forgotten Soldier

"Careful Luke," his mom said as he nearly trips over a rock outside his childhood house, "you need to be watchful of your surroundings, not everything that hides in the bushes are just 'shy'."

Luke's mom was sitting on the stairs to the balcony as he was playing with a few sticks he had, pretending they were swords. "I know mom," his young voice rang out, "I am careful, plus dad and Gray taught me how to use knives." his enthusiasm was overflowing but not unfounded, despite only being ten, his father enjoyed teaching him all sorts of things ten year olds could only dream of knowing.

"I still disagree with your father on that one, you have no reason to know how to use a knife at your age."

Luke stops his assault into the tree, panting a little, "Whatever, Gray said next up on the list is swords."

She sighs, "Did he now?"

"Yes he did, and I'll be able to help Gray battle."

Luke starts swinging into the tree again, "I want to be prepared, if anything can go wrong at any time I need to be able to at least defend myself, right?"

The stick suddenly broke as he hit it on the tree and a piece of it hit his head, he fell onto his back.

Still rubbing where the stick hit him, he stands back up, a small cut was now present on his forehead.

Simply a case of bad luck, however Luke was holding back tears, clearly angered at whatever malevolent invisible force had done such things to him.

"Guess this world is just out to get me, isn't it?"

The light dissipated and I took a few glances around to get my bearings.

We ended up in a quiet neighborhood near the edge of town near the surrounding forest.

However I care little for that right now, my source's place of residence is right in front of us on an old stretch of road near the forests. Nobody was on the streets around us, leaving me to worry a little less about potential third parties.

I've had to put up with this entire thing for the past few months, worrying about this whole idea I am beginning to regret.

I could be anywhere else right now, battling with Jonathan for fun, trying to beat Lance for glory, having fun with the people I call family.

But no, instead I have them in this over-glorified sting operation.

[Don't beat yourself up over this, its not entirely your fault.]

"What did I ask you about reading my mind without asking, Ruby?"

[I keep forgetting…]

I sighed, a quick glance over to Ruby shows her blushing a little, her hands were over her mouth to try and cover it up.

[I mean it though, try not to stay mad at yourself.]

"I'm not mad, it's my duty as a Champion to keep everyone safe is it not? By getting rid of these criminals I'm doing what my job entails, we all have seen what happens when Champions let their paranoia and power get to their heads, it's not a pretty sight."

[Can you at least admit you have ulterior motives? You aren't just doing it because it's your job.]

"Can't a guy have his secrets?"

[Not when they are detrimental to our success]

"Keeping secrets isn't always detrimental, in this case it's doing everyone else a favor."

I awaited for an answer, receiving none, she looked sadly in my direction expecting me to probably expand on what I said, well I have nothing more to say..

Everyone was staring at me, apparently they were calling my name.

"Guess I just zoned out…" I said with a tinge of guilt in my voice for making everyone wait.

Jonathan laughed a little, "It's fine, let's just get a move on I guess."

I pointed to a house directly on the edge of the road, where the road starts to go into the forest itself.

We started our approach with a little caution in our step, Gray checking behind us every once in a while to Aeon and Ruby both using their abilities together to try and locate any threats around us, finding nothing thus far.

Shock and Ashley were both on my shoulders, talking about something that was making them both giggle slightly.

The sky was blue, the trees around us were thick and protected whatever hid in them from ever being spotted if something was watching us, it was also surprisingly cold.

I shiver slightly in realization at the sudden drop in temperature compared to where we were.

"Hey Jonathan." I called out.

He came closer to me, "Yeah?"

"How did the battle go?" I said, trying my best to seem interested.

He cocks his head upwards, seemingly bored to death to even think of it, "It was a steamroll, like I keep repeating to anyone who asks."

"You don't have to be a jerk about it." I retorted.

A roll of his eyes showed how much he cares about his tone, "I was borderline falling asleep because of last night, oh dear gosh the amount of kids begging me to battle them was never ending."

He looked mad at that surprisingly.

I shrugged, "I thought you liked getting challenged, you keep repeating your hopes of finding someone other than me and Lance that holds their own well enough."

He pinches near the top of his nose with his right hand as if to signify some form of annoyance, "I feel like you know exactly what I'm talking about but refuse to acknowledge it."

I see where he is coming from, but at the same time I disagree.

Typically, new trainers exhibit signs of their natural affinity for training and battling very early on.

Examples can be derived by how they battle and play into certain moves or even how they treat their Pokémon. If Jonathan really wanted a rival, he should just pick a random new trainer and watch them closely and mold them into someone that will actually be a challenge.

Instead of just hoping and praying that somebody magically just shows up at our doorstep with all they need to rival him.

That crap ain't happening anytime soon.

I responded to his remark, "I do know, but you should know that you should be leading the newbies if you really want a challenge."

"When did you get so philosophical? You were practically breaking down at the shop."

I roll my eyes, a little sarcasm weaving its way into my speech, "I still am, I can just hide it really well."

"Well that's good to know, sad you still can't hide it from Ruby, Vence, or Aeon though." A grin now present on his face.

He was right about that, "This morning was... eventful to say the least because of that very reason."

"I'm impressed," he clapped twice sarcastically. "you not only kept it hidden, but somehow had everything going according to plan until Ruby herself found out. So what's your endgame with all of this?"

I did not respond, some part of me wanted to tell him, to not keep my damned secrets from him.

I could've sworn the space between us darkened with every second of my silence, all the while little pieces of me were shouting to not continue down my chosen path.

But people are volatile, unpredictable, I'd be doing him and myself no favors by getting him more involved then he already is, and I still have to account for all errors that'd he'd make along the way.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat, "let's just get this over with, then I can go back to complaining about not having a challenger and you being anti-social."

The house now towered over us all, it was made of bricks that looked older than the entire neighborhood itself, it had moss on its roof and vines growing along its walls.

It looked abandoned to the untrained eye, my father however always told me never to take anything at face value… I quickly noticed that a hose was attached to an outside faucet, a hose that looked much newer than the house itself, along with that the lawn was cut rather delicately.

Shock and Ashley both lowered their ears upon looking at its size, being three stories tall and quite wide, it looked like a mansion. They both muttered something to one another, making Ashley stifle an uneasy laugh. Shock's tail raised a bit as some electricity flowed through it up to his ears, all the while keeping a close eye on the door from my right shoulder.

Some of the electricity flowed through my arm and shoulder, "Take it easy Shock, remember you're on me and not the ground." I say whilst approaching the door, he giggled slightly at the idea of shocking me.

I knocked twice, a deafening silence surrounded us like a gas.

A moment later, steps could be heard coming towards the door before it opened, revealing a man in his sixties, my source.

He was dressed in old military garb, it was black and green and had all sorts of patches on it from a few squads long retired from duty, it was outdated by years but still looked to be in good condition, match that with his well kept beard and he steely cold stare that bore holes through my very soul.

Not that I even changed expressions however, this is all part of the plan now I guess.

"It's a long story…" I started.

His face softened just a bit as he spoke, "Complications in keeping it on the low I see? Well no matter." he gestured for us to come inside.

The inside was far more grand than I could've ever imagined, the rest of the group was dumbfounded that such beauty was hiding in plain sight.

Red carpets and chandeliers were everywhere, around the sizable square room, a few chairs could be seen at the opposite end that we entered in that my source gestured to.

We sat down, Ruby taking a seat on my right with Jonathan on my left, everybody else also taking seats around us.

My source spoke, his ice cold demeanor having returned, "I'm guessing you want answers?" gesturing to Jonathan and the others.

"To be frank, yes." Jonathan remarked.

"I do not have a 'normal' name as my work is typically very sensitive, the name your friend has given me is Echo. I used to work for the government, but got let go after my squad disbanded a long time ago back during the great war..."

He sighed, "I never wanted to leave that job though despite all the horrors I've seen, and I know how typical that sounds. But I never wanted to leave because of what we had found."

He trailed off, staring into the floor before starting up again, a new emotion present in his voice, "As you know, Luke, the war was a complicated mess of politics, guns and gore and whatever else dared enter the fray, but," he looked to me. "VSF Commander Scott Schneider created a squad specifically for investigating the possibility of other armed forces entering the war or getting access to weapons of Venetian military quality and power. That was my job, Fireteam Nightwatch's leader."

He then revealed a watch on his left wrist, he clicked something on it and then the room darkens, the table between us begins to glow a light blue before shapes begin to form floating in the air molded by the user interface that probably resides on Echo's watch.

Everyone was in awe except for me and Serene, I created this stuff in my spare time with my dad and Serene's help.

A document of sorts materialized and was given to everyone who could read, Shock and Ashley returned to my shoulders to read along with me. They swatted at one another's ears playfully every once in a while.

The document depicted evidence to support the idea that someone is stockpiling weapons for unknown purposes, from raids on warehouses discovering that bomb parts are being stored there, to entire underground networks connecting buildings to other buildings in Veneto.

It was all extremely old news, older than me by a considerable margin, having already been 'solved'.

"These were the leads my squad was given, we were told to trust no one… Not even the current Champions…"

It was a news article he was referring to, it showed the Champions from around fifty-ish years ago.

A young woman in a grand dress with her brother also dressed in fine clothes with a man looking to be in his thirties behind them.

"Eventually, we found this..." he then showed us a page from the doc.

It was pictures of bodies mangled in all manner of horrifying ways.

One depicted the corpse of a man who appeared to be in his twenties with a black crystal stitched into his chest and back, Ruby seemed quite appalled at that. The crystal seemed to be originally red, and was blackened by something unseen.

If what I remembered from biology is correct, the crystal was of a Gardevoir and was still alive and was feeding off of the emotions of the man. Which would explain why it was blackened out and seemed to be dead.

That in itself was terrifying, however I was sickly fascinated in how they did it in the first place.

Another picture almost made me sick, stopping my curiosity dead in its tracks before I even had a chance to really think about it.

It looked to had been a kid, key word being had…

"The worst part is that they succeeded in areas, they created monsters capable of destroying entire squads of trained elite soldiers in seconds. My squad happened to be one of them… it was a botched raid, we didn't know what to expect and we got everything we didn't want to see. I was the only survivor thanks to some Pokémon we rescued from the facility before it became too hot."

Echo sighed and leaned back into his seat, keeping his gaze on all of us, "If you have questions, ask them now."

I had none, I knew who he was from a certain Zoroark named Jack back in Venetian Castle and from a meeting with Scott Schneider himself about retirees that he liked a lot.

[Do you really trust him?]

"I got the file from Scott himself, even asked him his thoughts on the guy, he said that he was a great soldier. So I trust him, I have no reasons not to for now, plus you're a psychic, you figure him out."

She huffed slightly at me before her left eye glowed a bit before responding.

[He's being truthful, how much though is to be determined.]

"Fair enough, keep an eye out then if you want."

[I'm doing it for your safety, little brother]

She giggled slightly then leaned on me to rest, I can tell she's quite tired still.

Jonathan piped up, "Was your investigation shut down?"

"No, it was handed over to the police by one of the higher ups, not Scott by though, Scott does his country proud and knows who can properly handle certain ops." a little anger fumed from somewhere within him. "It was one of the greasy leather chair sitting leeches at the top who conveniently lost original file evidence and handed over the rest to the police because 'we didn't have enough evidence to support our claims of conspiracy' anymore."

There was suddenly a knock at the door, driving all of our attention except Echo and Ruby, who was sleeping on my shoulder blissfully, he then clicked something on his watch and the door opened, two other Pokémon entered through.

One was an Alakazam, the other was a Garchomp, they looked very surprised at mine and my friend's presence, the Garchomp even growled slightly.

"Take it easy, they're on our side." Echo said a little softer than usual.

They stopped their signs of aggression, they still stared into us though, they took seats beside Echo.

I decide to ask a question, "Are these the Pokémon your squad saved?"

Echo smiled, "Through all that I lost that day, at least I got something out of it, yes they are." he seemed pained to say that.

"Alright, so we are going after the same people who your squad was after, right?" Jonathan asked.

Echo nodded, "Correct."

"Finally, something interesting that will take more than just me showing up." Jonathan said to no one in particular

I retorted back. "Being cocky will only get you killed, doesn't take a strategic genius to know that."

He rolled his eyes at my statement.

"Let's just get right to the point, where and when?" I say, defeated by pretty much everything about this situation.

"Meet me back here at 7:30 on the dot, in the meantime I recommend training and getting warmed up for tonight."

I look to Jonathan, a little fire in his eyes, "Save it for the arena, I'll call someone to pick us up a few blocks away from here."


	6. Dreams and battles

I could tell that I was dreaming, everything was far too perfect for it to have been real.

I could see a grassy meadow surrounded by trees, I could see Luke racing with Ashley and Shock, I saw Gray being himself with Aeon pestering him, Serene was beside me coiled up and reading happily, seemily falling asleep. I was leaning on a tree, taking in the moment, smiling, Luke looked happy at long last…

I could feel the warmth of the sunset and the cool breeze, everything seemed perfect.

Gray tossed his knife into the air as he shot tiny streams of water out of his hands to keep it hovering, Aeon laughed at something Gray said before swiping the knife and using his aura to give it the appearance of being on fire.

I relaxed, just letting my stresses melt away for the time being.

A feeling crept into my mind, the dream suddenly felt off.

It felt empty, like something was missing, something important…

I squinted as Ashley summoned a fireball and blasted a nearby tree with it into nothing more then dust, Shock squealed in excitement as he brought down a lightning bolt from on high and crashed it into another tree, having similar results, both started talking to each other over who caused the most damage. Luke sat down on a nearby rock, watching closely.

My eyes darted around the area, I even used my psychic powers to try and figure out what was wrong, finding nothing.

What am I missing?

Luke suddenly got up and walked over to Ashley and Shock, saying something, he smirked as he approached. He then told them to combine their attack into something much more powerful.

A flash of thunder and lightning amongst a torrent of fire, the light and heat from the explosion made Serene's book flip a few pages much to her dismay, the three of them laughed at its destructive capabilities.

Two other voices came out of the woods where Ashley and Shock were, two figures emerged revealing themselves as Luke's parents.

They glanced around the area, waving to me and Serene with smiles on their faces, their Pokemon accompanied them.

Luke's dad had a long time friend, a Bisharp named Ronin, he used to train Aeon and Gray quite a bit back when we lived with them. His mom had her respective Pokemon, a Serperior named Rosa, someone who used to train me and Serene.

His dad approached and sat beside him on the rock he was on, saying something that made Luke laugh a little while his mom hugged him.

They all looked so happy.

The feeling returned, but I could discern that it was a feeling of familiarity and dread.

Fragments of various memories swirled around my head like a hurricane, threatening to overwhelm me as I realised the context of this moment.

I grasp my necklace tightly while I stare, suppressing tears I can't cry, what little emotion I was feeling quickly soured, I knew what came next and I wish I could change it.

A flash of light suddenly exploded across my vision, blinding me in an instant while I put my hands up to defend against it, when it subsided I'm left by the tree with nobody around. The light of the day was seemingly snuffed out in an instant by the darkness of the night, leaving me to wonder as to the meaning of this bitter memory's recollection.

I see Luke on the same rock, hunched over, seemingly on the verge of tears. I could feel everything he felt, anger, sadness, and fear, my emotions mirrored his.

He didn't notice my approach at first, "What's wrong?" I said softly, hoping to not hear what I'm already thinking.

A piece of me wanted him to not respond, for this to just remain like a slideshow with nothing I can do to change the outcome.

He lurched over and began to sob heavily, "It's my fault." he sounded shaken to the core and had every right to be so.

I could feel cracks form in my demeanor from every doubt and emotion tied to this moment, it felt like a deafening shrill from a wounded Pokemon was barreling through my mind with no remorse nor mercy for the frailty of my current state of mind.

I sat beside him with my right arm over him, "You and I both know it's not." I said as softly as possible, hoping to not make this any worse than it already is.

"I shouldn't have hesitated-"

I interrupted, "You didn't know what they were capable of," my breaths were shallow, "please don't lose yourself, not after everything that happened."

He hugged me, a few tears string from my eyes as I hugged him back, he spoke with a voice shaky with dozens of emotions, "Why me?"

I never did respond to that question, I didn't even know if there was an answer to it, for all the power I possessed then and yet I still managed to fail him… and them.

Fleeting feelings of peace trickle along through my troubled mind, desperately trying to convince the rest of myself that the only reason why we got where we are is because of what happened, but at the same time, it is the source of most of my worries.

Luke is zealous because of it, he just never gives up even at his own expense, I worry for him for that reason, everyday he has some new convenient way to seemingly kill himself that I have to save him from, one of these days I'm not going to be able to.

I rub the top of his head and closed my eyes as the world faded.

* * *

"Wake up Ruby, hehe," I opened my eyes and saw Ashley on my lap clawing at my chest, I was back at 'Echo's' house, right, I fell asleep.

I wipe my face to clean up my tears that were apparently present on myself from my dream.

"Were you crying?" Ashley asked, her tail wagging slightly.

"It's a long story…" I really don't want to worry her, but my voice may have betrayed me.

She huffed slightly as she jumped onto my left shoulder, "Whatever you say," she then stretched out and attempted to lay down across my neck like a scarf, "Shock is bugging me about Luke, and I'm getting tired from trying to argue with him."

Shock mumbled something to Ashley that I didn't hear but made her roll her eyes, "I just want to sleep right now and not worry about things that aren't my problem." she remarked with a huff.

"Knock it out you two," I say while I grabbed Shock from Luke's shoulder, "leave her alone if she asks, and don't make her worry about things that you don't know all the facts for, alright?"

He nodded reluctantly and immediately retreated back to Luke's shoulder as he got up off the couch and signaled for us to follow, "Save it for the arena Jonathan, I'll call someone to pick us up a few blocks away from here."

"Leaving already?" I asked him.

Luke nodded but continued towards the door while looking at his phone like I never asked, all still followed, me still being a little reluctant knowing so little about this as a whole.

Ashley tried desperately to remain curled around my neck, but getting up off the couch made her slide off my shoulders, she yelped at that but I caught her in my arms before she hit the ground.

"You could've warned me." she exclaimed as her body temperature began to rise slightly at her anger.

I couldn't help but chuckle a little, Shock was also barely able to contain his laughter much to Ashley's rending stare. She then did what could best be described as a shrug due to her current body structure and got comfortable in my arms as she still tried desperately to fall asleep.

We then exited the building and started off to where we were going to get picked up, I noticed Gray and Aeon were starting to fall behind a little, discussing something they obviously didn't want anyone else to hear or worry about.

I slowed down to try and socialize with them and maybe answer any questions they had that I could answer, however upon noticing my suddenly sluggish speed they both abruptly stopped talking.

Ashley thankfully had fallen asleep peacefully in my arms, I couldn't help but smile and pet the top of her head a little.

I decided to break the ice and cut right to the point, "Do you two have any questions regarding Luke?"

Gray crossed his arms a little and sighed, "Despite what you think, I do understand him, he doesn't want anything to go wrong, and people are probably the most volatile thing to try and predict."

"Yeah, that's true, but people can be very predictable if you take the time to see the patterns, or maybe that's just because I can see aura," Aeon remarked, "but, I do want to know more about this little plan of his, how much did you figure out?"

"I know enough that everything so far has actually gone according to it, besides me finding out too early and him changing his mind to include everyone." I said simply.

Gray loosened his posture a bit, "What made him change his mind so suddenly?"

I smiled wryly, "Take a wild guess."

Gray stared at me for a moment before looking to Serene, "How'd you convince him?"

"Being honest, I don't even know the answer to that."

"There is always an answer, although you may not always like it." Aeon sarcastically retorted.

"Do you have something to say?" I say with my left eye starting to glow slightly.

Aeon only rolled his eyes at my subtle threat, "How long did you know? And when were you going to tell us? If at all."

"While I did technically know he was hiding something for a while, I didn't suspect it to be as big as it is until I noticed his sudden behavior switch which was all recent." I say whilst petting Ashley lightly.

"While I am worried to some extent, he isn't a kid anymore and needs to make his own decisions as a Champion," he then gestured to me with his left hand, "but I know that if your worried, then odds are its important, is there some motive that is being hidden from us?" Aeon finished while squinting at me.

Gray glared at him, "If she knew, she would've told us already."

I saw no point in hiding it anymore, if anything, I should tell them why Luke's doing all of this to convince them to help me stop him from taking this too far.

"Actually…" I murmured, "that's why I wanted him to drop it…"

Aeon smirked, "So what's he hiding that's got him so riled up?"

I sighed, "Well he is telling the truth about everything he has said so far, he's not lying, he only chooses what not to say, like in this case."

"I cannot explain everything through words as effectively as just simply showing you…" I snap my fingers and I show him what I saw on his laptop whilst I make sure to guide their bodies on their intended paths using psychic, as the process typically makes people and Pokemon alike unbalanced and susceptible to the tragedy of gravity.

I also showed them Luke's motivation, I could tell Gray wasn't surprised judging by his emotions, Aeon felt sympathetic, that could be a problem but I won't even bother right now.

Aeon stared off into the nearby woods before looking at Luke, more sympathy radiating off of him, he then shook his head, "Can't say that I'm surprised, I wouldn't want anyone else to know unless they had to either if I was in his skin."

Silence grew, only punctuated by everyone else's footsteps for a fleeting moment, Gray had long since left to his own thoughts probably thinking of something to talk about that isn't as serious as the current situation.

Someone carefully probed into my mind, however I knew who it was.

[Not now Vence, I'm busy.]

His mental voice sounded soothing, 'Did I come at the wrong time?'

[Sort of? I'm just casually breaking down at the seams like its the dark type gym leaders all over again…]

'If I remember correctly it was you who inspired all of us to continue fighting, I'd wager you alone won us that match despite our weaknesses.' Vence said confidently.

[I don't doubt myself if that's what you're getting at, I'm just worried for him.]

'As you should, but remember to not make it an unhealthy obsession, dear Tysree.'

[You're starting to sound a lot like me and I'm not so sure if that's good or bad.] I said teasingly.

'Isn't that how it works? No?', I felt a small feeling of amusement, 'and I do know you secretly want what Luke wants as well, our minds are connected after all.'

I wasn't surprised by that in the slightest, I just wish I could've talked to him about it at a better time.

[But unlike him I have restraint, I'm afraid that he'll lose himself in this little crusade of his, and I know you know of that feeling 'dear Tysrin'.]

Leaving the situation alone isn't going to help anyone, I want both sides to win, I want Luke safe and the people who made him the way he is gone. However I must pick a side, I cannot have both.

Maybe with time I'll decide, something I am quickly running out of.

'Heh, maybe we can catch up later then since we'll probably duel.'

[I've been practicing how to deal with swords, perhaps I'll beat you at your own game someday.]

'Not if I beat you at yours first.' he said teasingly.

I felt his presence steadily leave, a sigh escapes me as I muse about the possibility of us dueling again, not that it mattered much but it oftentimes went on for hours till one yielded, guess it would be the perfect time waster.

This whole situation honestly isn't even that bad the more I think about it, Luke is right that it is technically his job to help stop criminals, but he left the part out that he's supposed to do it with us and Jonathan and even his own men he's appointed, is he really that paranoid?

What's worse is that they have been operating in secret for who knows how long, this wouldn't be a problem if Luke simply got people he trusted to help him with this.

But then again, his true motivation to all of this is probably what allowed him to silence his mind to the idea of opening up about any of it, although I want the same thing as him, maybe not to the same extent.

Luke stopped walking, ahead of us a car pulled out from one of the roads that went into the inner cityscape.

The car was black and gold like the logos for the Champion related things, if my memory serves correctly it was Lance who suggested the color change from before, which was white and red from the previous Champions.

Once we all got in, it was me sitting next to Luke with Shock in his arms and me with Ashley in mine who was still sleeping, Jonathan was sitting opposite to us with Quin beside him.

"Where to, boss?" I heard the driver say evenly in a young sounding voice.

Luke responded dryly, "Back to the castle, please."

"Oh, Lance wants to talk to you also." The driver said while handing Luke a phone before starting to drive.

"You know I have a phone right?" Luke said into the phone, supposedly talking to Lance.

Noise came from the phone that I could not make out, I put my focus to it and eventually started hearing words.

"Where are you right now, I hear a helicopter in the background."

"Heading back to Venetian Castle, had to brief a specific squad of my choosing to go on an op of sorts, Jonathan told me that you apparently were already looking into the same problem so I assume that you know who to look for?"

Luke glared at Jonathan, however his emotions betrayed his look, "This was meant to be a secret, but seeing as nobody can keep secrets around here I guess so long as you don't care about getting your hands dirty, I'll see you at the castle."

He then hung up and handed the phone back to the driver, "Data leaks?" the driver asked.

"No, something much worse," he sighed, "rumors."

The rest of the drive was uneventful other than some banter with Quin and the driver.

The castle stood tall and mighty, adorned with the banners that were changed to fit the three ruling Champions. The small island was a little way off the beaches that a grand bridge had been constructed, it was made of marble and some other stones that seemed to shimmer in the light.

Having woken Ashley up and settled down in the main arena, I started some basic psychic exercises that I do to get warmed up.

Ashley and Shock where by one of the corners play fighting, it seemed that Ashley was winning.

Luke and Jonathan had set up their own mini arena for everyone elses purposes… With Serene and the others patiently waiting for them to finish.

I had a few dummies set up for my own obvious purposes.

A breath escapes me as I begin to summon Psyshock, but instead of materialising it as a wave I summon it in my hands and shape it to closely resemble a type of sword Luke referred to as a 'rapier'.

Whatever it was, it was definitely something that surprised Jonathan and Vence the first time around when I used it.

It took concentration and lots of training, I have Luke to thank for actually being supportive of the idea.

I start a simple situation in my head, two dummies marked blue are my team, while the three marked red are overwhelming my team and I must intercept them as quickly as possible.

I flex the grip on my 'sword', it fit me oddly well.

A countdown in my head starts, beginning at three.

I took a deep breath, picturing every pitch perfect slice and move I had to pull off.

Everything flushed away in my vision briefly as I swung forward with my hand.

The dummy appeared in-front of me.

I sent my hand forwards again, pulsating with psychic energy.

It got hit hard into the air and slammed into a wall.

I jumped at the next dummy with my blade outstretched.

I swung my sword hard, the momenting causing the dummy to get cut in half horizontally.

My hands began to glow as spears crashed into the last dummy from above.

'Not your best work, Tysree' I heard echo through my busy mind.

I summon more spear-like objects from Psyshock while striking some sort of battle ready pose in an effort to seem intimidating.

Vence stood in front of me, stoic, with a hint of smugness to his posture.

His mind however was where all the emotions really were, such as it is usually with Gardevoir and Gallade in general. I saw many emotions, fear not being even one of them.

A light engulfed him as he mega evolved.

"Ready to go?" I heard asked from behind me.

[If you are.] I said to Luke.

"Forgot to mention that we'll be going by 'duel' rules and not normal battling rules." he said rather evenly, like he knew I wanted that to be the case.

"Then let's begin." I say vocally.

The feeling of mega evolving is almost euphoric, it is such a shame it's not permanent.

Luke stood beside me in black and gold colored armor that covered his chest, legs, and arms with a helmet that covered all of his head. His armor was decorated with the Champions insignia on his chest and shoulders, he wore a black cape to go with it.

Jonathan had something similar, however he didn't have a cape and his helmet was much more grand looking, it resembled a mixture of a Gallade's head and a Blaziken's head, while Luke's seemed to take more inspiration from mine more than anything.

Jonathan was flexing one of the new 'toys' that the duels were allowed to use, it was a blunted axe that was colored exactly like the armor, while Luke had his signature rapier, he called it "Downfall" and he actually used it for other activities.

"Same rules as always, get the opposing trainer in a 'knockout' position, nothing too complicated." Luke said unambiguously.

"ON THREE." Jonathan shouted.

[Same plan as last time?]

'yep.'

"GO."

I was already in-front of Vence before he could even say anything.

I swung hard at him as a distraction for my spears.

A grin planted itself on his face as sparks of our impact flew in all directions.

He jumped back from another swing as the spears chased him down.

The spears collided with nothing as he disappeared from view.

I saw that he was teleporting around the arena rapidly.

[You forget that I am far better at this tactic than you.]

I threw a sword behind me.

As predicted he appeared in its trajectory.

It hits him on the shoulder, causing him to falter mentally for mere seconds.

Wasting no time, I reached out and hit him with psychic, slamming him into the ground before throwing him upwards into my awaiting psyshock.

'But you forget that I learned your tricks as well.'

A burst of psychic energy flooded from him and stopped all of the spears mere inches away from him.

I noticed a shadow moving at its own will-

Vence hit me with shadow-sneak as he burst out of it and followed it up with more slashes.

[Learning them doesn't mean you're better at them than me.]

I rolled away as I snapped my fingers and teleported away.

He stared me down from across the arena.

[You can have those ones.] I said to him while I pointed back towards my spears he took.

'You have more?' I heard him say sarcastically.

Secretly I prepared a little surprise...

I grinned, [Yes, but that's not what you need to look out for-]

His own shadow became a portal as I slammed the dark energy into him from behind.

I seized control of my spears again and sent some more flying after him.

The blow sent him flat on his face.

He burst from the ground as the spears hit where he was and landed behind me.

I stepped back to block his assault into me.

I couldn't get any opening as his dual blades kept smashing into my defense.

He twisted around and jumped up and sent a Night Slash downwards.

I frantically raised my blades to defend.

It hit much harder than I expected.

My blades cracked and shattered, sending me flying backwards.

I landed on my feet a little ways away from Vence.

[I hope you know that this is just a game.]

'What can I say? I enjoy winning.'

His swords began to glow brightly, he had used Swords Dance.

[If you say so.]

I gritted my teeth as I thought over my options.

I started to charge a hyper beam, this would do the trick.

He disappeared again-

I ducked just as he slashed from my side.

I reached for a sword, I had none formed-

Another Night Slash hit me, sending me flying across the arena.

I landed by Luke and Jonathan.

I could barely feel anything, everything came back into focus barely.

Everything looked blurry, it seemed that Luke was dodging and weaving around Jonathan's attacks, not even bothering to parry.

Luke ducked under a blow and kicked Jonathan in the stomach, causing him to stumble back.

He was about to capitalize as Vence came from behind.

[BEHIND YOU.] I shouted over the psychic connection.

Luke rolled away before grabbing Vence and throwing him to the ground.

Jonathan launched himself up and took a few fratic swings at Luke while he started to parry them back.

I barely managed to get up with all the fog in my mind.

My hyper Beam was charged.

Vence turned his attention to me, his blades began to glow even brighter.

Jump, I dare you...

He disappeared again.

He came from above with his blades imbued with dark energy.

I smiled brightly.

My hands glowed brightly as a beam of pure light exploded through the air and blasted Vence across the arena back over towards Luke and Jonathan.

I realised that Luke had Jonathan in a hold of some sort.

"Please stop, man that hurts-" Jonathan yelped as Luke twisted his arm just a bit further before letting it go, "You used that trick on me last time, you won because of it and Aeon wasn't even knocked out then." Luke said sarcastically before helping him back up.

'Guess I ate my own words' I heard Vence say weakly.

[You'll probably win next time, besides, we have much worse to worry about then some broken pride.] I said whilst using Heal Pulse on both of us.

"Well us two will be right back, heals stuff is by the counter if you need anything." Luke said before walking off with Jonathan.

"Oh," Luke leaned back from the door, "amazing job by the way, both of you." before actually leaving.

'Some things never change.'

[It's what does that scares me.]


	7. Till I snap

**Lemme know what ya think of this new chapter**

* * *

"Oh, amazing job by the way, both of you." I said awkwardly to Vence and Ruby before exiting towards the changing rooms.

Jonathan was semi-limping towards them with my help, "Damn that thing hits hard when it wants to." he said while grimacing slightly at my sword.

I grinned as I propped him up inside the room on a bench, "My dad made it for me, along with that 'dinky' revolver if you can remember it."

Unsheathing the rapier, I admired the handle, having been made specifically for my hand.

The guard was rounded but had a unique style to it, the hilt had his initials engraved into it along with my name.

The bottom of the hilt had a device similar to my electrically charged sword which made it work similarly to a taser when I hit someone with it, however since I rarely even used it I never had a use for that feature.

Especially since I seemed to take after my father when it came to making things, cause who needs quality of life when your knife is literally on fire?

"What did your dad do to your revolver that made it so special again?" Jonathan asked while taking his helmet off.

A smile grew on my face, "The engravings on it, they add absolutely nothing to the gun but it definitely makes it look neat, and it definitely can bite." I said simply.

Jonathan snorted, "Why would he give you a sword and a gun as gifts? I can maybe understand the sword because he was _very _into Venetian culture, and duels used to be a key part of it when you became of age to have Pokemon, but why a _gun _of all things?"

I pondered that for a moment.

My father was a decent scientist, he did his job well enough and made plenty of money for my family. He never told me _why _his job was so important, all I know is that he was working on something of value that few people took interest in, but meant a lot.

He gave me the sword and the gun at the same time, teaching me how to use both when I was just ten years old.

Was he worried that I wouldn't be able to protect myself from a strong Pokemon?

Or was he more concerned about somebody coming to look for me because I'm related to him?

Questions I'll never get answers to, or at least for now, maybe Ruby knows something since she was around before I was born…

"I think he gave me a gun because of his job, it's not like I ever used it anyway, it's currently in its own case in our office." I said plainly.

Jonathan finished taking off his armor and was now putting on his normal getup consisting of a green sweatshirt and black pants, "Ah, so he might have been working on something far more important then he let on, which would explain the gun."

"Perhaps that's the case, I never got to ask him."

"Is that still bugging ya?" he asked suddenly.

I glance over at him, "What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about," he got up and walked closer to me, sounding soft, "you've been through hell and back with me but you'd rather go through all that again then remember that damned night, is it still bugging ya?"

"It's just a memory, a bad one maybe, but still just a memory." I said wearily, hoping my lie would be kept secret.

Ruby already knows and thanks to her link, that means Vence knows, I won't have to keep this on the low for long because the very second things become public it doesn't matter, the hard part is ripping a piece of this company's mask off in order to show everyone the truth. Which is thankfully tonight, tonight I get my revenge, tonight I absolve myself of my failure to pull the accursed trigger on my gun when I needed too the most.

I will not hesitate to shoot first this time, not again.

_**Never **_again.

"Well if you say so." Jonathan said evenly.

The door suddenly opened as Lance practically flew through wearing some kind of Venta Special Forces military uniform.

"The hell you doing in that?" I shouted in surprise.

He looked around the room frantically before picking up a jacket that belonged to him, "Do you want the good news or the bad news?"

I glanced over to him, "Good."

"I have my own squad I managed to pry from Scott, said that I have a few weeks to get evidence to show that more people are needed for our endeavors, because apparently the military has been fighting these guys for a lot longer than we thought."

I thought that nobody else knew?

"Who are they fighting?" I say, still confused at how more people know of the possible connections.

"That's the bad news, these guys are worse than those Team Flare bastards over in Kolas." he said far too calmly for my liking.

"How much worse?" I say, starting to get more concerned.

His face darkened as if he lost himself in deep thought, "Unlike Team Flare, these guys don't have a name or any discernible origin, nor do they seem to care who gets in their way, but the pattern seems to be that they are gathering experiments that have to do with Pokemon's powers and exploring them."

He knew quite a bit surprisingly.

"And on top of all that, some of them have… eh, worked." Lance finished.

I responded plainly, "I already knew that."

His left eye widened a bit, "So you are looking into it then?"

"Sort of," I say while tying my shoes, "I have a hunch the a little known company whose name is 'Alhertz Industries' or more commonly known as 'Anon Industries', is secretly giving orders to a military-like entity to conduct essentially fetch quests for them so they can blame the 'boogie men' for causing all this harm and stealing stuff while this company does all the research into who knows what."

"Why though?" Jonathan asked.

I turned to face him, "We were just talking about my dad and how he might have given me a gun because he felt like people would come after me because of what he worked on, money, power, whatever else drives a person to do these things."

Sometimes I wish the world was simpler, but alas that will never happen.

Lance finished putting his clothes on, getting up beside me to hand me a USB, "This is everything the military knows, I'll be upstairs getting something ready, you two review it then meet me upstairs." he finished before walking out and towards the elevator.

"Welp," I put down my backpack and unpack my laptop to put the USB in it, sitting next to Jonathan, "lets see what we got."

Upon opening the USB, I was greeted with the sight of locations of potential bases to even faces of some of the apparent leaders, however one thing remained the same, they were dubbed 'Eidolons' or 'Phantoms'.

One thing caught my eye, a photo of a familiar looking insignia that I know all, too well…

I opened the file and compared that to Alhertz Industries insignia for their men, it was in the same style.

"Guess they are putting together the puzzle, however I doubt that they'll go public with only this." I murmured.

"So you do want this to go public?" Jonathan asked.

I took the USB out and started to pack my laptop back, "Yea, I want to go public, but only because exposing them will absolutely give us the political advantage we need to stick it to that-"

I was interrupted by the doors opening again, revealing the driver that drove us here, "Boss wanted me to let you know that the 'suits' are here."

Jonathan stifled a laugh, "What does that piece street scum want now?"

The driver propped himself in the doorway, "Don't know, boss sent me to-"

"You can just call us by our names," I interrupted softly, "speaking of which, what's yours, I never asked."

"Zachary, sir, er Luke." he said embarrassed.

Jonathan chuckled, "Ya mind if we call you Zach?"

A small smile crept onto Zachary's face, "Not at all, most people call me by that anyways."

"Well Zach, what does Lance need?" I said, getting back to the real question at hand.

"Lance wanted me to let you know to straight up ignore the 'suits' and just get over to him in your office." he answered simply.

I got up to shake his hand, "Alright, thanks for everything Zach."

He outstretched his to meet mine and shook it, "It's my job, sir." he wittily said before heading back out the door and down the hall.

"I think you just made his day." Jonathan said sarcastically.

I chuckled at his remark to my actions, "Well I say it's time to move on, we have a job to do now."

I grabbed my backpack and started out down the hallway back towards the arena with Jonathan just trailing behind me.

Upon arriving at the arena, I saw an old stout looking man in a suit followed by a Bisharp talking to Zach and a few other employees.

"Where are the three 'Champions'?" the 'suit' asked charismatically.

Zach looked slightly intimidated despite being taller than the man in the suit, "They are upstairs sir."

"Can one thing go right-" he caught sight of us and stopped his rant.

An unnatural anger started to fume from within me at the mere sight of this little man in a suit, I never thought he'd be bold enough to show his face around here again.

I suspected that he's here because he thinks that this situation might expose him for the sloppy job that he does in the police and politics.

He started to stomp his way over to us, looking more funny than intimidating, "Word in the business is that you three posers are stirring up trouble again where it doesn't need to be-"

Without warning I stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar of his suit, "I HAVE NO TIME FOR YOUR WITLESS OPINIONS ON US," I brought his face closer to mine while putting on a bitter scowl, "why are you here?" the Bisharp attempted to intervene but was waved off by the 'suit'.

There wasn't even so much as a expression change on his face to my actions or words.

"Unhand me, please, and maybe I'll tell you, because it seems my presence alone angers you greatly despite my lack of action." he said with a smug smile on his face.

Feelings of calm started to overtake me, Ruby was obviously sending them.

A sigh escaped me, "Fine, you win this time." I said while pushing him away.

I brought my hand up and whistled loudly, signaling for everyone to come to us.

The smug smile on his face quickly evolved to a more satisfied look, "I can assure you that my visit will be fast if you just give me what I want."

"And what is it that you desire?" I said with sarcasm dripping off my remark like Arbok venom.

"Your information and evidence on your independent investigation into your outlandish claims of conspiracies."

I scoffed at him, "You really think that's how the law works? Go get a warrant signed by the guy up top saying I need to first, then we'll talk, grease bag."

"You three are TEENAGERS, the police should be doing this, not you bunch of amateurs." he retorted.

Jonathan spoke up, "Amateurs that beat you and your 'police force' right to what mattered, if we are the amateurs, then I'd be scared for what you are."

I then pointed directly at him, "Besides, I suspected you're apart of it."

The smile stayed firm on his face, "Outlandish as usual, I'll be back with that warrant and whatever else I need then, 'Champion'." he finished with scowl before leaving with the Bisharp in tow.

"You're making it official?" Jonathan said, surprised at my declaration.

I sighed, "Not like I have a choice, let's go see Lance and tell him the news."

Ruby and the others approached in differing levels of exhaustion with Shock and Ashley looking like they were about to fall over unconscious.

"What happened to you two?" I asked the duo while crouching down with a potion in hand.

A wry smile appeared on both of their faces before they both said something that I couldn't translate, but could guess was something along the lines of 'Neither of us wanted to give up'.

I found that amusing, it would be comparable to mine and Jonathan's relationship after all. Or if I really wanted to dig, Vence and Ruby's, but she is highly secretive of their relationship to me, however the same sentiment could not be said about Vence, I owe him one in that regard.

'_So it was him'_ I heard echo through my mind again.

_Is it THAT hard to mentally knock?_

'_No, but-'_

_Just get out for right now, please._

'_Fine'_

I glared at Ruby briefly before I heard another mental voice stampede through my mental processes.

'_Is she bugging ya again?' _

_Just not right now Vence._

'_What's wrong?'_

_More than I want._

With the mental intruders gone, I asked if anyone wanted to walk or just rest up.

Ruby wanted to stay out along with Aeon, everyone else wanted to rest, while Quin was the only one of Jonathan's Pokemon who wanted to stay out and about.

We made our way over to the elevator at a swift but even pace.

"Do ya think that Lance is gonna be happy?" Jonathan asked while pushing the button to the floor we needed.

I already knew the answer, "Not at all, we need to act fast and get more evidence to confirm our accusations now that _he _knows."

Ruby then spoke up, "Did anyone think about _how _he found out in the first place?"

I looked at Jonathan with a little look of surprise on my face as I facepalmed, "How did I miss THAT detail…"

How did he know? That is a good question considering the efforts I went to, to make sure that this never happened. Maybe he only knows what Lance knows, given what Lance has said he's procured for our use, he probably had to tell _someone _what he needed and why, that's probably when it leaked.

The elevator doors opened as we arrived at our intended destination.

We walked down the hallway and passed a few windows looking into the courtyard or arena with little regard for the beautiful sight that lay just outside them, the afternoon sun was beaming down into the courtyard with shadows dancing in the corners with a grace to it that I could not describe.

The arena was currently being used again by what looked to be some new trainers and possible challengers for either of us, both of whom were going at each other like nobody was watching with blazing brutality and a severe lack of restraint, I could practically smell the anger coming off of them.

A piece of me wanted to go back down and stop them, another part wanted to see the victor.

That's what really scared me, how far off am I from them? How long till I snap? Till I become no better then the people I hate?

I realized I stopped walking and was spectating the two trainers, uncertainty clouded my judgment on who would win, Jonathan also stopped and was also watching along with me.

"Could that have been us?" he asked in a hushed and serious tone. "Could we have ended up hating each other like them? Let stupid ideas like rivally get in our way?"

Ruby leaned on my left shoulder, "Perhaps, but what does that matter? You're both friends, forget about the what-ifs and live in the now-"

One of trainer's Pokemon went down hard after getting hit with a boulder from the opposing Onix, the trainer in question ran over to his now slumped over Eevee with a few bandages in hand along with a potion, I could tell it was bleeding badly from the overzealous blow that came from the Onix.

I looked to the other trainer and couldn't draw myself away from his cold dead stare.

Chills ran up my spine as I tore my gaze away to call security on my phone to let them know of the situation.

In all my years I can best describe those who wore that stare as people long gone from knowing what sympathy or love is, people who couldn't be saved by words no matter what was said.

I felt severe discomfort, however it wasn't mine, '_How could someone be so cruel?' _

The Eevee somehow mustered a smile at its panicking trainer who was struggling to get the potion and bandages on.

_I'll never know, all we can do is stop them from hurting more people._

The team arrived and thankfully it looked like the Eevee was going to be fine, however the other trainer was being escorted out with a possible investigation for using excessive force in a battle.

But maybe the other trainer was somehow justified, but maybe other factors play into it, who truly knows all the facts?

'Black and White', 'Good and Evil', I truly wished that the world was that bloody simple, the truth is that it's far, far from that.

I shook my head before heading towards our intended destination.

I hate politics for that reason, which is why me and Jonathan asked Lance to be the guy who is the 'go to' for Champion political talk unless all of us were needed for an important vote or something.

Getting dragged into it again was the last thing on my to-do list, well I'll just have to suck it up and put on my poker face.

I bust open the door to our office without care for who could be on the other side.

I was greeted to the sight of Lance scrambling around our office with one of his Pokemon, a Dusknoir named Dmitri.

"What are you dashing about for?" I called out to them both.

Lance seemed to have found what he was looking for and settled in his desk that was nearby mine and Jonathan's.

A small smile flashed across his face, "I was looking for this," he then held up a document with what looked like coordinates on it, "all the locations that I got are on this document, minus whatever you found."

"The 'suit' found out, we need to move quickly and make this official." I said evenly.

A laugh came from both Lance and Dmitri, "Waaaaay ahead of you, already got it through yesterday night, hence why he even came."

"So this is a real investigation now?" I asked.

"Afraid so, meaning that I'll be meeting Norman to discuss how to best go about doing this."

I sat down at my desk and opened one of the drawers, "Norman is a busy man, he has a region to run and people to babysit until he finds better replacements, I wouldn't be surprised if he just gave us the thumbs up and just told us to keep it under wraps."

"That's essentially what he did last night, now I have to go meet him to discuss how the public might react and ways to avoid causing extreme political damage and distrust." Lance said while reading the document.

I found the case for my revolver and opened it.

"Are you actually going to use that?" Lance asked nonchalantly.

A chill ran up my spine as I lifted it from the case and and felt the cold metal in my hand.

I took the holster and attached it to the inside of my coat.

"Yes." I said simply.

I grabbed my ammo which totaled up to about 36 bullets in total and stuffed them into the side pocket on my backpack for easy access.

An almost satisfying sounding click sounded as I pulled up the hammer, pulling the trigger made another set of clicks go off as everything slid into place, ready for the next shot.

Satisfied with the state of my gun I put it in my holster.

I then noticed Jonathan and Quin talking to Lance, possibly about what I just asked him before.

"I thought that you thought that gun was a curse?" I heard Ruby ask.

I turned to face her, "It is, it's a reminder that I failed miserably to do the simple act of pulling its damned trigger when I needed to the most."

I could feel a bit of nervousness coming from her, "So then why keep it? Much less use it?"

"Because it's also a reminder of why I fight." I said in a determined voice.

Ruby approached me and took my left hand in hers, "Remember that despite all the hardships we have faced, we will fight alongside you against whatever lurks in the dark." she said confidently.

I looked her in the eyes, a fierce fire emanated from them that seemed contagious, "It's not what hides in the dark that scares me, it's what hides in plain sight that makes me nervous." I muttered in response.

"People and Pokemon lie, it's nothing new after all, but I'll be there to help you tear them all down."

I smiled as I started off towards the door, "Then let's go give them a fight."


	8. Trick Room

"Could that have been us?" I asked in a hushed and serious tone. "Could we have ended up hating each other like them? Let stupid ideas like rivalry get in our way?"

Ruby responded, "Perhaps, but what does that matter? You're both friends, forget about the what-ifs and live in the now-"

The Onix threw a rock at blinding speeds at the opposing Eevee, without any time to dodge it got hit hard and flew back several meters.

I could tell that it was bleeding, the trainer was desperately trying to patch it back up.

Thankfully it looked like it was going to be fine despite the roughing up it took.

The Onix obviously didn't have a League Battle Inhibitor on, which is against numerous rules and regulations that are put in play for safety concerns.

Luke was already calling for a security team before I even needed to ask.

"What do you think they were so angry about?" I asked Quin while gesturing to the two trainers.

He shrugged and pointed over to Luke, who was already heading into our office.

Damn he moves fast when he wants to.

Me and Quin quickly followed after him while he was sitting at his desk and fiddling with his gun.

"Hey Lance," I called out to get his attention, "I'm guessing I should just fill ya in on what's going on?"

"Spare me the broader details, just the stuff I can sum up extremely quickly please." Lance groaned.

"We are following a lead that's going to be a possible evidence-"

Lance suddenly perked up, "I'm sending Dmitri with you to keep tabs and provide some extra support."

"Can't trust us to handle ourselves." I asked sarcastically.

He looked to Luke who finished packing his revolver, then stared directly into me, "Not in the slightest."

Dmitri shrugged as he disappeared into a shadow.

"He'll watch your back and get you out if something goes wrong, understand?- where the hell did Luke go?"

I looked around the room and saw that both Luke and Ruby were nowhere to be seen, not even leaving traces that they were even there.

"Eh, forget it, just tell Luke that Dmitri has night-shift."

I gave him a thumbs up as me and Quin took our leave back towards the elevator.

I decided to go to Luke's fabled holographic room of illusions for some training, I still had basically the entire afternoon despite all the action within the last hour.

The room itself was extremely large and had capabilities to run entire combat scenarios with stunning realism, much to certain peoples dismay…

"SO, I have some new moves for tonight that involve the strange ideas of stealth and misdirection."

I had all my Pokemon in front of me, all of whom had stricken various poses that mirrored that of military recruits in some stereotypical war movies.

I continued, "While stealth is definitely not our strong suit, we can most certainly try a little misdirection, so I'll be running a simulation where I command a bunch of ground troops, I want you all to get into the compound at any cost to retrieve a folder that I'll have in 'my office', understand?"

All nodded their heads except for Garris.

"Any questions?"

"Who's in charge?" Vence asked.

I spun around in a circle then pointed at him with both my hands, "That's for you all to figure out, good luck."

I then went off to leave them to figure themselves out.

The console that controlled everything was near the door to the room, it was white like the rest of the room for reasons unknown. The tech enhanced Zoroark illusions to allow them to be touched and given purposes beyond fooling people, although it required extremely specific requirements for it to function properly. One of which was a powerful Zoroark, we had one named Jack, and oh boy did he love his job.

I pressed a button on the console that pulled up a menu of various recently done scenarios, one of them perfectly matching what I wanted.

I put names in brackets for who was who, gave myself about a few dozen soldiers, and pressed start simulation.

The door opened as Jack walked in wearing the necessary gear for it to work, he flashed me a thumbs up as the room began to fade out into black.

A bright flash of light came from Jack as he snapped his fingers.

I found myself in an office of sorts, modeled similarly to the Champions Office, except it was for only a single person. It appeared to be night along with some rain, the perfect time to try and sneak in undetected.

I saw a few pieces of paper on my desk along with the target folder, the other papers had a map of the area along with guard rotations and patrols.

Although I knew nothing about their plan of attack, I did know how to potentially screw them up.

"Sir." I heard from a walkie talkie on my desk.

I reached out and grabbed it while spinning on my office chair, "This is command, did you need something? Over."

"We have a potential problem by the vehicles, apparently a guard was found unconscious by them with signs of struggle being evident." the soldier said with little concern.

Not even a few minutes into the sim and they were already going in, time to punish their attempts with something Luke definitely wouldn't agree with.

"Send squads one through five to the back exit while your squad comes back to my office, we have a potential breach. Over." A sigh escaped me as I pondered what to do next.

I could get all squads to patrol in higher numbers, or only patrol certain areas, or anything really, but if the rest of my hunch is correct then they will be going for a off the radar exit, and I don't want them to know that I know.

I started twiddling my fingers because of the severe lack of things for me to do other than wait for something exciting to happen.

Lots of time passed, however it seemed to slow, I swore the clock was ticking _backwards_ at the rate that it was going, if their plan was to bore me to death, they were winning.

While I do commend them for their effort, I felt that it was time for something to happen.

"Squads six and seven, report." I requested with little fear for anything.

The Walkie Talkie flared to life as two voices rang through it, "Squads six and seven reporting, sir."

"I need both of your squads to patrol around the back exit as insurance for a potential standoff, I'll be waiting until then-"

A figure suddenly hammered straight through the window behind me and attempted to pin me to my own desk.

The squad I had previously told to guard my office sprang through the door with fire in their eyes, upon laying eyes on the figure they raised their various weapons that thankfully couldn't kill in the controlled environment, but they still definitely worked thanks to the illusions.

I realized who it was, Vence jumped from over-top of me to the first guard closet to me, hitting him over the head with his bladed elbow, his blow landed with a loud scraping sound as his blade got stuck in the soldiers helmet. The second guard took that as his chance to shoot Vence, having no time to react and his blade stuck in the armor of the first guard much to his own dismay.

A shocked expression was on his face as he realized that he messed up.

The guard aimed true and shot him directly in the chest, leaving Vence down and out as he hit the floor with a thud, five to go.

I spun around expecting more of my team to be breaching in via the other windows but found nothing, I didn't know if I should be thankful for that.

The fallen soldier still had a sword stuck in his helmet, however it only seemed to knock him unconscious because the helmet never gave all the way.

That is one of the main reasons why you wear a helmet in combat.

I picked up the fallen soldier's weapon, a typical looking black assault rifle that I couldn't tell the exact model of, either way it looked dangerous enough for my use.

"You ok, sir?" I heard the soldier ask.

"Yes, but in the meantime call some more men to the area, they're probably advancing up on us from somewhere unexpected." I answered back.

Vence's 'body' suddenly disappeared in a glow of light, leaving just the unconscious soldier behind with a really big gash in his helmet.

It was odd of him to do something so stupid, maybe there was a underlining plan-

I jumped over my desk in hurry as the other soldier exited the room, the folder was still here.

No, something was _off_, but I can't tell what exactly it was.

I stared off outside the broken window into the inky depths of black that was outside the compound, wondering what his plan was.

My walkie talkie suddenly blared to life with the voice of a very distressed soldier, "Squads one through five are under attack by an unknown number of hostiles by the back exit, but we seem to be holding position well enough."

I suddenly felt cold, not the kind of cold from the wind and rain outside, a kind of cold you only feel once…

I whirl around the room, looking for any shadow that's just out of place, Yor was prowling nearby.

Yor was going to be a problem from the beginning that I should've prepared better for, while I do know how he likes to go about fighting, I'm more scared about what he could do with Shadow Sneak.

He could bring the rest of them directly into my office with minimal effort, that would suck. Or he could Shadow Sneak in and grab the folder and get out with ease.

I point my gun around the room hoping to get a reaction if he was here, getting nothing but silence and the pitter patter of the rain and wind.

It was eerily quiet despite the weather, the chilled feeling was still present in me, Yor was biding his time and he had all the cards.

I swipe the folder and make a break for the door.

All the shadows in the room seemed to darken into pools of inky blackness as I rushed at a breakneck pace towards my means of salvation.

The inky blackness began to rapidly try to cut me off as I jumped over it and slammed through the door, the soldiers outside looking a bit confused or concerned.

I pull myself up as I start firing bullets at the rapidly advancing shadow, hoping to hit something.

"OPEN FIRE ON THE SHADOW, IT'S A GENGAR." I yelled

My gun clicked empty as the other troops started shooting randomly into the shadow, it retreated back into my office as I heard other voices from inside the room calling it back.

One of the guards tossed me a spare magazine for my gun as they got into breaching positions by the door, three guards on each side.

It was deathly silent again, we didn't know what to expect when we breached.

One of the soldiers brought out a flashbang, he put three fingers up to signify when he'd begin the breach.

Everyone looked to me for orders, "Shoot to kill." I whispered.

All nodded their heads as he pulled the pin on the flashbang.

He tossed it in, it slid along the floor with a metallic scraping sound before being followed by a bang.

Everyone entered with speed and efficiency, one shouted something I couldn't hear before gunshots rang out, I counted about ten shots before they stopped.

Another shout sounded but was followed by an Ice Beam coating the doorway in ice and stopping me from seeing inside.

More screams and gunshots before silence took over once again, leaving me to wonder as to the victor of the engagement.

I heard footsteps approaching from behind me, looking behind my back I saw that it was the other squads I sent for thankfully.

I whispered fiercely over at the six soldiers to come over to me as I approached the door in a crouched down position, all of them looking far more confused or a tad worried at the state of my office.

"Any of you have something that can break us in?" I asked in a whisper.

One of them tossed me a plastic explosive device, or C4, whichever one it was, I left Luke to know the terminology. I planted it onto the ice and put my thumb up before cocking my gun and getting a safe distance away.

"Three… Two… One… GO." the C4 went off and blasted the ice apart into pieces as I rushed inside and was greeted to one hell of a scene...

All six of the previous squad were frozen completely solid, all facing towards the window this was Drite's handiwork. What shocked me more was that Yor was leaned up on one of the frozen soldiers and was apparently bleeding out.

Yor looked over to us, he chuckled slightly as he raised a thumb up before coughing.

"You throwing in the towel or am I gonna have to put you outta your misery?" I said sarcastically.

He laughed again, he raised his hand up to signify surrender before disappearing like Vence.

Two down, four to go.

I don't know _how _Yor got shot, but my guess was that he got cocky and tried something flashy, since nobody on my team besides Herra and Vence knew first aid and that they definitely didn't have the necessary stuff to heal him, they had to leave him behind and retreat back out the window.

I sat back at my desk which was now covered in ice, the chair somehow remained unscathed despite all the nearby property damages.

While I had no reason to be sitting, I did like the chair, and oh boy did setting that C4 on the ice make me strangely tired…

The other soldiers suddenly raised their guns towards me.

"What's wr-" A Ice Beam hit the back of my chair from the window, thankfully doing nothing more than freezing the chair and sending me over the top of my desk.

Drite and everyone else were back, and dear Arceus they looked **angry**.

The other troops eagerly opened fire onto them with little care about what nearly hit me.

I wasn't afraid, but I definitely didn't want my troops to be running around without a leader…

Another Ice Beam clipped my left shoulder while I ran out the door and in the direction of the back exit which had the rest of my men, that was where I'd stage my final defense.

I fell to the ground from the force of the beam, folder still in hand and now the feeling of frostbite starting to kick in. While I have been hit with Ice Beam before, Drite wasn't holding back this time in the slightest.

A pained grunt escaped me as I got up to my feet and looked back to the door before limping away as fast as I could, I just needed to take a few turns and then I'd be clear. I caught sight of a red blur as I turned the first corner, Garris was catching up far too fast for me to make it in time.

I ripped my jacket off which had the ice on it and tossed it to the side as I spun around and fired a few shots at the hallway I just came out of, making him stop to take cover.

I only had this one magazine, once it ran out I would be defenseless.

Only two more doors, then it'd be their turn to run.

I kept running without falter towards my means of salvation, quickly opening the second to last door in a set of grey metallic hallways and slamming it shut before locking it, hoping the metal would hold back Garris's wrath.

I kept going despite the pain in my shoulder to the door on the left in the intersection, there was a fingerprint scanner which I put my shaky index finger to.

It completed its job and opened the door just as an Ice Beam hit the other door and froze it, weakening its integrity for Garris to probably brute force their way through.

Smart move on their part.

I closed the scanner door and ran outside into the courtyard with one means of exit which had the rest of my men there.

I could see about a dozen men already outside looking towards me, the rest were probably on the outside.

The squad leaders were talking amongst themselves but raised their weapons and started to get to their positions when they saw me.

"THEY'LL BE HERE ANY SECOND, READY YOURSELVES." I shouted as I jumped over some barricades, panting a little as I pointed to the door.

A purple glow from above suddenly started up, I realized too late that it was Herra, and she just used Draco Meteor.

Numerous purple glowing rocks fell onto my defenses, scattering troops and breaking open the door for the others.

I rushed for cover as one landed next to me and exploded, sending me into a wall with a few burn marks.

Everything hurt, I was frozen, burning, and tired all at once.

I get to my knees and see nothing but chaos, Herra was taking advantage of the moment to charge up a more powerful attack to completely decimate the defense.

I took my gun in hand and shot in her direction to scare her off.

Surprisingly I clipped one of her wings before she lost control and flew directly into a wall. She crashed to the ground hard and was out before I could even take in what just happened.

"Bloody good shot that was." one of the squad leaders said while giving me a hand.

I took it and we looked to the door which was now breached, all surviving men were now watching that door like Giratina itself would walk through it.

Suddenly the squad leader who helped me up walkie talkie went off, "Squads six and seven have a surrender call, we won."

My gamble paid off.

The simulation began to erode as black nothingness surrounded my vision.

I found myself in the center of the room with everyone else arguing about something, Vence seemed to be at the epicenter of it.

"Who was the leader?" I asked in a slightly louder voice than their argument.

All of them simultaneously pointed at Vence who crossed his arms and sighed.

"We tried to sneak in at first, as soon as we loaded in I told everyone to take down as many guards as possible to make our escape easier, but then I saw you alone so I told everyone what I was going to try, and everyone but Yor disagreed with me, after that I believe Drite took leadership and almost led everyone else to victory." Vence said sheepishly.

I shook my head while face-palming, "You should be treating this a lot more seriously like its a real scenario," I sighed, "all of you lost the second Vence 'died', losses like that are inexcusable for us."

While I knew they tried their best, and they definitely aren't used to me not calling the shots, they still have a lot to learn in case I become incapable of commanding them, like Luke's team.

Luke knows his planning and discernment, I know my gambles and strength.

The door to the room opened as Luke and Ruby came through.

"Time to go?" I asked.

He was wearing a dark green hoodie on top of his normal attire along with his backpack.

"Yea, also man…" he suddenly switched to a lower voice, "let me do the talking, I don't know how this is going to go from here on out."

I returned my team besides Quin who was beside me, Ruby looked over us before teleporting us away.


	9. Duel of Ideals

Ruby and I had teleported away before Lance could tell us otherwise.

We appeared to be on a cliff-side that overlooked the city, Ruby was beside me in the forested area around us, staring out into the grand sight before us.

I knew this conversation would happen, it's better I get it over with now then wait and suffer for it.

"This isn't the first time we've talked by a cliff-side…" I joked while looking over it.

"And if you aren't careful it'll be your last." Ruby said sarcastically as she sat down.

I laughed as I stared back out at the sight of the city and sat down beside her, "That was eight years ago, I'm not gonna do it again, I wouldn't dream of putting that emotional stress on you again."

Ruby grabbed my arm, "I know, it's just that your feelings leak into the world around you like poison, no matter how well you try and hide them, a mask only protects you on the outside."

"Don't lie to me that you've hoped that this wouldn't happen, my feelings may give me away to you, but you give yourself away through your **actions**." I said as I tore my arm away. I sighed, "At least admit you secretly want me to win, you struggle with the same thing as me, even to a much worse extent thanks to you being a Gardevoir."

"And you clearly don't care at all for what they wanted, about what I promised to do for you and the others." she snapped back with.

I got up and shouted off into the woods around us, "WHY DO YOU THINK I KEPT IT HIDDEN FROM YOU?"

She got up to face my back as I spoke again, "It's because of THIS exact thing, you think you're the only one suffering when I literally had a gun in my hand when they died, they could have been alive, they could have been here with us…"

A short laugh escaped me for some forsaken reason, "I ALONE MESSED UP, nobody is at fault except me, I have to try."

Tears were in Ruby's eyes, "_BUT WHY?_" she pleaded, "Can't you just move on? Forget and live your life?"

"You miss one hundred percent of the shots that you don't take, and you make it seem like it's such an easy thing to forget, I can't even sleep at night because of the nightmares…" I said while trailing off.

Ruby got closer and put a hand on my shoulder, "You're going to destroy yourself and I won't be able to forgive myself if I let you do it." she pleaded.

"THEN YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL." I shouted, she backed off slightly.

I turned around and crossed my arms, "I let them die, I could have saved them but I didn't, now I have a job to do and a gun in hand."

Ruby turned around and sat down near the cliff-side again before speaking in a cold tone devoid of previous emotion, "It's going to be impossible to convince you to stop, isn't it?"

I felt a little remorse for my words, I turned around and sat down beside her, "At least I have you to thank for bringing me out of my despair and into the light enough for us to achieve _this_." I said as I gestured to the castle in the distance.

I spoke again, "Tell you what…" she perked up slightly, "Just tell me if you feel that I'm going too far, you know that you're the voice of reason usually." I said as I pulled her into a hug that she returned.

"But what if you already are?" she asked.

"Then I won't take another step."

We sat there for a few minutes, taking in the grand sight of the surrounding area with little care for our conversation before she suddenly teleported away.

She suddenly reappeared in the middle of the clearing with my sword, I got up and she tossed it over to me which I caught with ease before unsheathing it and tossing the scabbard aside

"As much as I hate the idea of you doing any of this, you are your own person, an entity different from myself in many ways, but I still want you to be ready for the horrors we will undoubtedly see." she said with a slight smile on her face while drawing her own sword with Psyshock.

I folded my left arm behind my back while my right arm held my rapier towards her, its gold details glowing in the sunlight, "If I see a single use of Psychic, I'm bringing Gray out to even the odds a little." I said lightly.

"If your mother could best me, you can as well." she said as her sword began to glow a bright pink, "Your father was one of the reasons why she became so infatuated with swords before you were born, she found them to be something she wanted to pick up on, it was also one of the reasons why I became so proficient with them."

"Good thing it was dad who was in charge of teaching me then." I said while I began a slow approach.

She began her own approach in response, "True, but your father knew you better then even me, he saw your potential long before I did."

"Then let's see that finesse you talk so much about." I simply said.

I released everyone else to watch the duel, all taking their places around our makeshift arena.

She put her sword out for me to tap with, I twisted my sword around my wrist and did the same as her.

Ruby suddenly jumped back and started running headlong into me with her sword trailing behind her.

A battle of true grace and beauty had begun.

With little time to spare, I blindly slashed to stop her advances.

It went wide as she swept at my legs with her sword.

I jumped over it with ease while sending a downward slash towards her.

Her sword spun around to hit mine away from her.

I jumped back as she took a lunge at me, barely missing my chest as I returned with an attempted clash.

Our swords collided with all manner of sparks flying in every direction.

The clash left me at my perfect point.

I bluffed a slash, causing her to jump back as I transitioned into a lunge.

I stopped the blade's tip inches from her neck.

"I see you've improved how you counter when it comes to dodged slashes." Ruby said while backing away from me.

I smiled brightly, "It's nothing other than what I was taught by dad and you."

Ruby suddenly tossed her blade in the air as it split into two separate ones that she caught in both hands, her stance changed to something far more dangerous to my style.

"Mine can't do that." I said sarcastically.

Her blades sparked as she clashed them together, a bright pink glow came from them, "Your's has a taser on the end of it."

"_That I never use."_ I said in slight disbelief.

She began to float slightly above the ground in anticipation of an attack, "Then use it, that's not my problem."

Her eyes narrowed slightly as I raised my sword again, the sun glinting off of it while changing sword stances to try and combat her new style.

Suddenly her left sword began to glow as she threw it like a boomerang.

That wasn't good.

A sudden lunge brought me out of my thought process.

I parried into a light clash that I knocked her back with.

I heard a whistling, realizing it was the thrown sword's rapid approach.

Thinking fast, I kicked her sword away, causing her to drop it and back-off.

I turned around and slashed at its incoming trajectory.

The sword hit back hard and nearly knocked me over as sparks flew everywhere from the collision.

I heard her approach as I slashed blindly to get her to back away so I could get into position.

She had summoned both blades to her hands while her right eye started glowing ominously.

I blinked and she was above me, with a slash already coming down.

Rolling out of the way, I quickly raised my sword to block any more attacks.

Then I remembered that she was floating a little too late.

The hilt of her weapon was pressed against my neck as I was knocked flat on my back.

"So you blocked the sword but forgot about me floating?" she taunted lightly.

I found myself suddenly teleported onto my feet a few meters from her.

My muscles burned slightly from all the rapid movements in this duel, although it seemed to invigorate me, blinding me to how I feel.

"You alright?" Ruby asked while changing stances with her duel blades.

I stood with resolve as my rapier's pommel began to glow slightly, my emotions were resolute in their collective want to continue onward. I could feel my heart's rhythmic beat, reminding me that I was indeed still alive, and that I still have a job to do before I even think about resting.

While raising my sword, I spoke with a voice ripe of determination, "Never been better, 'Tysree'."

Her eyes went wide with a little shock, "Did Vence actually tell you what that means?" she asked with a little laugh in her voice.

"I knew about the relationship, not really about the term until I started to try and translate, and yes, Vence did help slightly." I said while beginning my own approach.

A smile cracked across her face.

Then she was gone.

Chills ran down my spine as I felt breath on my neck, hearing the whistle of her swords-

Pain riddled down my right shoulder as I realized she was behind me and had taken a successful slash at me.

Knocked to the floor by the blow, I rolled away to avoid another incoming stab.

She clearly wasn't done, I heard her footsteps approach again as I slid too my feet, she pressed her assault with a volley of slashes coming from either end of her.

I was still off balance and out of stance.

Her first blow came heavy with sparks flying in all directions, I held on barely as I jumped out of the way of her second slash.

I got my footing and began my own counter-assault.

"You're trying pretty damn hard-" I muttered as I dodged one blade and slashed away the other.

I let one of her slashes slide along my sword, causing it to be outside my defense and right where I needed it to be.

Giving me a chance to attack.

Taking it, I stabbed at her with an ulterior motive in mind...

Instead, she teleported again, leaving me stabbing at nothing but air.

Trying to roll away would have been a futile effort.

My pommel began to glow brightly as I blocked two slashes and swung it around to hit her chest.

I was desperate for some breathing space.

Ruby must have realized that I was going for the taser as she jumped back.

"You're getting desperate." Ruby taunted, however those words fell on deaf ears.

I put on the coldest stare I could manage without giving myself away, I just needed a singular mistake, a single miscalculation…

In the blink of an eye, she was gone again.

Predictable, as usual.

I simply stepped to the side as her first strike whistled past me.

Something risky came to mind.

Her second strike came fast as I charged from below it with my pommel out.

The strike went wide, leaving me with one final chance to end it.

My pommel hit her square in the chest as the taser did the rest.

Ruby jumped backwards before falling on her back as her swords disappeared into little bits of glowing pink dust.

I collapsed onto my backside from all the pain and feelings overwhelming my adrenaline-fueled mind and body.

"Dirty cheater…" Ruby moaned as she sat up to make eye contact with me.

I chuckled at her hypocrisy.

"Alright fine, I wasn't a fair player either, 'least we almost had a tie." she muttered.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a confused look on my face.

She pointed to my right shoulder, "I cut you there, I'm surprised you didn't notice-" Ruby suddenly went wide eyed, "you're bleeding right now."

My shoulder began to feel a little numb, and it wasn't from all the adrenaline running through my bloodstream…

Suddenly Ruby was beside me with my sweater in her hands and my t-shirt sleeve rolled back as far as it could.

The cut definitely wasn't deep and bled very little thankfully, that didn't stop it from hurting like hell when I learned of its presence though.

"Is this what you wanted?" I asked with a pained sarcastic laugh, "For the taser?"

Some pain flared up in my shoulder, causing me to clutch it as she started to charge a heal pulse.

She shook her head as a green pulse of light went over the top of my shoulder and eased the pain and hopefully healed in completely.

"You'll be fine, on your feet Tyrn." she said while helping lift me help.

"I'm guessing 'Tyrn' means young man or something, right?" I asked with little interest in my now throbbing shoulder.

She giggled a little while nodding, "You're a fast learner, maybe I'll teach you someday."

"Guess I need a new sweater…" I said while tossing it aside after taking my gun and holster out of it.

"We'll get you one after, lets just have a break for right now, your taser did a number on me." she said while rubbing her forehead.

"You two alright?" I heard Aeon call out to both of us.

"Just tired…" I said back as I sat down beside Serene in a tree's shade.

I found myself wanting to drift off to sleep, my eyes seemed heavy with my body begging for rest as well, while my cut may have been healed, my bruises screamed at me for some respite...

…

I opened my eyes and found myself with Serene's coils resting around and on me with Shock and Ashley next to me.

I realized that I was breathing rather quickly and that my heartbeat was elevated far beyond normal.

Did something happen in my sleep?

My memory was… foggy, it was probably just a dream.

This day has been quite eventful so far, dueling and arguments, along with the potential prospect of me having to go and help Lance with _politics _of all things. I wanted to groan at that, but I'd rather not waste energy.

I carefully sat up, and saw Gray and Aeon sparring with each other where me and Ruby were.

A few punches, punctured by the occasional Water Shuriken or Aura Blast.

They looked like they were having fun, for now.

Gray threw one of his shurikens at Aeon a little slower than usual.

I noticed his shadow moved along with it.

The shuriken was evaporated mid-air by a small Aura Sphere that Aeon blindly threw.

Gray launched himself at Aeon from his shadow and pinned him to the ground.

Aeon didn't look too pleased with that.

I chuckled to myself, Gray definitely was ruthless when he wanted to be.

"You okay?" I heard Ruby ask.

I turned my head and saw her on my left side with her head on Serene's coils, "Did you just wake up?" I asked her while carefully pushing Serene off of my body.

"Been drifting in and out of it, I'll be fine tonight though."

Her words reassured me for now, a few bruises couldn't have done much.

I got up and carefully stepped over Serene, while looking at my phone.

The time was six-twenty, I looked over to Ruby who was just getting up, "I think it's time to go get Jonathan, eat something, and meet Echo at his house."

I returned everyone including Aeon and Gray, who were still bickering over if Gray's shadow sneak was a 'fair' move. That was for their own good.

Ruby's eyes began to glow, before a flash of light overtook my vision.

It felt like I couldn't breath for a second, although I was used to the feeling from previous teleports.

My vision returned and I found myself back in the castle in the Champion's office with Ruby beside me, looking a lot more energetic again.

Lance wasn't here surprisingly, he must be out at a meeting or training, practically nothing separated him from this castle.

"He's in the 'trick room'." Ruby said with her eyes closed.

She opened her eyes and snapped her fingers as the feeling of breathlessness returned for a second.

Something green hit my face, I realized it was one of my sweaters. Without asking her where she got it, I put it on and strapped my gun to the inside of it.

"Let's hope he's not busy." I said as the door opened, I saw Jonathan and made my way over to him hastily.

"Time to go?" he asked.

"Yea, also man…" I switched to a lower tone for importance's sake, "let me do the talking, I don't know how this is going to go from here on out."

Jonathan returned most of his team, minus Quin.

'_Is there anywhere you want to go?' _I heard echo through my mind.

_Just to the coffee shop, the place is usually empty._

I felt strange, empty, like all the emotion from before just disappeared.. Was it some facade I put on for myself? To make myself think that what I'm doing isn't right? Either way, I couldn't care less, I have one chance, if I miss… All this would be for nothing, they would disappear and I'd never find them again.

I just have to remember not to let this get inside my head and screw with me, I refuse to be worse then the people I hate.

Ruby said she'd help, that I am very grateful for.

Even if I do fail, at least I still have something to fight against, and people I'm more than willing to die for.


	10. A Silenced Conscience

"Remember, I do the talking, unless you have a _real _question, understand?" I asked Jonathan as I made my way up Echo's doorstep.

He came up beside me, "Yeah, let's get this started."

I knocked three times on the door in quick succession, the deep noise of knuckle on wood echoing around the silent street.

Locks clicked on the other side before it opened.

It revealed Echo, still wearing the same suit as earlier.

Without a word he gestured to us to follow him inside.

He closed the door and started down towards the stairs going to the basement with us in tow.

"I do admire your zealous attitude, Luke, my squad had such qualities as you two do, I can tell this will be a success if we play this dangerous game carefully." Echo said while starting down the stairs.

"I try my hardest because I never understood why people take things casually." I said while following close behind him.

He stopped at a landing that had a wall on the left side.

"What about you, Jonathan? What drives you to do the things that you do?" he asked as he fiddled with something on his wrist.

Jonathan jumped down the remainder of stairs and landed beside him with a bang, "I just want a challenge, something to fight for or against, ya know? I always used to think my sister was the successful one in the family, her being a scientist and everything, but I never thought in a million years with Luke's help we'd be here."

"Don't let go of that determination, you only have it once." he said grimly.

Suddenly a part of the wall slid away, revealing a staircase that went the opposite direction of the proper way to go.

He descended down them swiftly, "I'll let you know now that things could get bad very fast for you both, it's not just your lives that might get affected, your reputation is something that might take a hit or two long before your lives ever get endangered."

At the bottom we were greeted to a room that looked like a small office complex with seven cubicles on one side and what appeared to be a table with couches surrounding it and a giant screen on the wall opposite of the couches, probably a briefing space.

"Did any of you want something to eat or drink?" he asked.

Jonathan shook his head.

"Good, cause I don't have anything other than water, and I'm about to brief everyone." he said with a grin on his old face.

"The Champions came after all, perhaps I was mistaken in judging so soon." a deeper voice said.

An Alakazam was floating near the entrance to the room with a cup of what looked to be water in its hand.

"They came because they want to help keep this region free of tyranny and greed, like any good leaders would." Echo responded to it.

He then sat down on one of the couches and grabbed a remote that was on the table.

The lights began to dim slightly as the TV began to glow.

"Come take a seat, don't be shy, introduce me to anyone in your team that's going to be actively working with us on the field." he said.

Ruby, Gray, and Aeon appeared beside me on the couches in flashes of light.

Jonathan had Quin, Vence, Yor, and Garris appear beside him.

"Quite the crowd, I'd recommend someone who can teleport or mess with peoples minds to be out at all times for this mission, as they always help tremendously." Echo said.

He stood up and stepped out in front of the television with the remote still in his hand.

He spoke with a newfound authority, "For those of you who do not know me, I am the former Captain of fireteam Nightwatch, Echo." he cleared his throat before continuing, "I will be leading us into a stealth operation where we will be infiltrating a compound that is owned by the 'Phantoms'."

The TV had a picture of what one of their soldiers looked like, just like the ones from the video I showed Ruby and Serene.

Echo continued, "For information that will link them to a company known as Alhertz Industries and politicians across Veneta and possibly Kalos, while wrecking everything on the way out."

The screen flashed by a few images of buildings that have been raided and wrecked by whoever these people were, "They are armed and dangerous with possible military training, we must work as a single unit in order to beat them like you do in battles, but unlike battles, there are no second chances here."

"Any questions?" he finished with the TV turning off and the lights beginning to turn on again.

"I might have some more people we can get to meet us at the area of interest to provide support, however we'll need to let a few people know what's going on." I said.

Echo pondered my proposition.

He looked to his Alakazam, who nodded in response.

"Alright, but what kind of team should I expect?" he asked.

I dug through my pocket for my phone, "A fireteam."

With my phone in hand, I started a call to Lance.

It beeped twice before he answered.

I got up and walked to where the stairs were.

"_Where did you disappear off to before?" _he said as soon as he picked up.

"Training."

"_Alright, did Jonathan tell you that Dmitri has night-shift?"_

Jonathan already told me during dinner, I would've been more surprised if he sent no one to keep an eye on us.

"Yeah, but I was wondering if I could borrow your fireteam."

"_Only so long as I get to be a part of whatever you're doing, you cannot do this alone."_

"After this mission, I'll give you what I know, but if I find out that you accidently leaked it somehow and everything is made redundant, I'll kick you off your throne myself." I ended sarcastically.

Lance laughed, "_As you wish, where should they meet you?" _

The Alakazam approached with a piece of paper in its hands.

It had a street's name on it.

I gave it a thumbs up as thanks, "Fairy street, on the rooftops."

"_Alright, they'll be heading out there now, their team name us Epsilon, good luck."_

My phone went silent as I put it back in my pocket.

"They'll be meeting us at Fairy street, their fireteam name is Epsilon." I said while walking back towards Echo.

Everything is going to plan somewhat, by morning I should have the evidence I need to take down these people once and for all.

Whatever fear or feeling of uneasiness I was feeling before had gone away, replaced by determination so bountiful it was probably contagious.

I have to win… For them.

But how far am I willing to go?

Echo then coughed loudly to get our attention like they did in movies, "I have weaponry that we will need to use, silencers for guns, knives, easily hidden pistols, things that we can hide relatively easily for convenience sake and because Ashear cannot teleport us to the inside of the building due to possible jammers." he said while gesturing to the Alakazam.

"You got any silencers for a revolver?" I asked while taking it out of my coat.

He took it and looked it over, "Huh… custom model I see, I should have one that can fit it, however it'll need to be kept elsewhere then on the gun as it won't fit in your holster if otherwise."

Suddenly a flash of light went off in the middle of the room.

Echo approached as it dissipated.

A box of various weapons and parts appeared where the light was, probably teleported by Ashear.

He stuck his hand in and took out a silencer and screwed it onto my revolver with ease.

"Good news is that it fits, although it's going to be heavier to handle with it on."

He then unscrewed the silencer and handed both back to me, "Keep them separated for now until we need to use them."

I nodded and put the silencer in a pocket inside my coat.

Echo grabbed a combat knife and a pistol that had a silencer embedded into the barrel itself.

"I'll be right back, I have to get 'dressed' for the occasion." he mumbled in my direction while going back up the stairs, leaving the Alakazam with us.

I sighed to myself, hoping that he'd hurry up so we can start this bloody thing already.

The Alakazam approached me as it talked, "Excuse his… leave, he should've been ready before you arrived but he likes to leave some things till the last second."

"An old habit of his?" I asked casually.

He seemed to smirk, "Indeed it is, he always tells me that he did better when he was in service with his squad, when he had one…"

We talked about his experiences with Echo, although he refused to give me his real name, saying that it's something he rarely tells anyone, and that the last person who did know is dead.

Ashear also told me about their past adventures, this definitely isn't their first rodeo, and I'll have to ask him after if he really is the _fabled _'Baron of Devoir valley', the current Matriarch doesn't enjoy human company too much at all.

A few minutes were spent talking about that, even Ashear chuckled slightly at the idea of an old war vet coming home and one of the things he does almost immediately after coming home is getting involved with the only Matriarch in Veneta, her nickname doesn't help very much either.

"She does have a name other than the Scarlet Monarch." a voice called out.

Echo had come back down the stairs, "But I'm afraid that information is classified because of an 'agreement' we had about it, even now I still respect that deal despite my absence."

"Doesn't answer the question of how the hell you even came to work for her in the first place." I while putting my hands in my pockets.

A grin crept across his face, "I'm currently in-hiding from her, although I doubt she'll ever find me, if she ever does, I'm sure Ashear will tell you the story as you're scraping up what's left of me off these walls."

Echo was wearing a trenchcoat with what looked to be a suit and tie with a bulletproof jacket on the outside of it with a fedora and typical combat boots and pants that matched his suit.

"This would be where I give some speech on being careful and working as a team and whatever else, however you're both Champions, so I'll just assume this is another day in the office for you both." he said while approaching me and Jonathan.

"Why are we keeping a low profile again? You said that we are wrecking everything on the way out." Jonathan asked.

"Because we aren't gonna be there when it goes to hell, we are there to cause disruption and havoc on their systems without them noticing right away, but make no mistake when I say that the evidence is our _**top **_priority in this mission." Echo responded.

He continued while digging through his box of armaments, "I'm not expecting much resistance in this base specifically, it's in an urban environment with few places for them to hide all the equipment they would need to run a higher numbered on-site force."

Echo took another pistol from the box with a silencer already attached to it, he also grabbed a few mags and gave them to Jonathan.

"Time to get a move on, we don't have all night." Echo said while starting back up the stairs.

* * *

The night was crisp with the moon bearing down at us from a clear night sky.

I welcomed it when compared to the sun from the afternoon.

The stuff I had included my backpack, which had some clothes, my laptop, the USB I was going to store digital information on, and my rapier, who's scabbard was attached to my backpack vertically for maximum mobility.

While I still had my knife which lit on fire, which meant the rapier would only be used when I ran out of ammo or when bullets are redundant.

We had just climbed a ladder onto a rooftop from an alleyway to look at our target, a multi-floor building that was between a store and apartments made of bricks, like the surrounding buildings. It had a few scattered windows that were covered up by curtains or iron bars to prevent a typical break-in.

Occasionally people would exit the building to escort someone else inside or out, they looked to be security personal.

I heard something amidst our watch that didn't come from the building.

I hushed everyone as I heard it again, it sounded like light scraping against concrete.

Echo revealed his gun as I did the same.

"I'll take point, you two cover me." he whispered to us.

We took cover behind some concrete blocks while Echo dashed from cover to cover, getting closer to the source.

Ruby was trying to sense who it was.

Suddenly she stepped out, "What are you-"

She hushed me.

"Epsilon." she said in an authoritative voice towards where the noise was coming from.

No answer, she raised her arms defensively.

I cocked my revolver in anticipation of contact.

"Are we doing code names?" a male sounding voice called out.

I looked at Echo, he seemed just as confused as me.

"No, you're fireteam Epsilon, right?" he asked.

The darkness revealed a man who looked to be in his mid 20's, wearing urban camouflage clothing underneath a bullet proof vest similar to Echo's, he had a weapon that looked to be a sniper rifle.

His left eye appeared to be robotic, and glowed slightly as he looked us over.

"Captain Leo Brigs of fireteam Epsilon, it's a pleasure to help sir." he said while shaking Echo's hand.

"Former Captain Echo of fireteam Nightwatch." Echo said to return the greeting.

Behind Leo was another Gardevoir who appeared to be a shiny variant, its dress however was black instead of white, like it was mega-evolved.

It also had what appeared to be a shotgun but with a drum mag.

"I'm Yuri, the team's disruption specialist, and this is Bane, our fortress." the Gardevoir said in an almost russian accent while gesturing to a Machamp that had just revealed itself.

Bane had a helmet on and shields, big ones, it was obvious he would be the one advancing forwards when under fire.

"Plan of action?" I called out to Echo.

He returned to his position beside me, looking at the building again.

"Leo, lead your team to go through the back door, if there isn't any, you have permission to make one, try to keep your presence unknown to them for as long as possible if otherwise to give us as much time as we need, try not to kill very many either since we are in a civi zone." Echo said.

Leo saluted before tossing a earpiece to me and Jonathan, Echo was tuning in with one he already had apparently.

I looked over everyone, Jonathan currently only had Quin out, while I only had Ruby at the ready as well.

It was time.

"_Kzzt this is Leo, we are on the other side of the building, Yuri is splicing us a way in through their computer systems, meaning we might be able to take out some of the camaras for you, over." _

"This is Luke, we are breaking ourselves in now, we found a window who's bars had been taken down for repair or something, over."

We had climbed in from the roof and repelled down thanks to Echo bringing some rope.

I repelled to the window and climbed through it with assistance from Echo who breached before us.

Ruby teleported to my side as we inspected the room we were in.

The room was under renovations, however the doors appeared to be locked from the other side.

"Ruby, can you unlock this?" I asked.

Echo got into a breaching position by the door.

He nodded to Ruby.

Her eyes glowed a bright pink.

The sound of metal hitting a wooden floor sounded from the other side of the door.

"Done, something is jamming my sensing abilities, we are on our own for surveillance on whatever is on the other side." she said while summoning her sword.

Jammers, this place really was secured tight.

"Jammers mean no teleporting, I think we should get Leo to get rid of it asap." I suggested to Echo.

"Breach first." he responded quietly.

Slowly he opened the door.

It creaked slightly as he set it still to peer to the outside.

"They have a single guard covering an elevator up ahead in the hallway." he said while silently closing it.

"Come in, Leo." I whispered.

"_Here."_

"Status on the camaras?"

"_Taken care of on the second floor and basement, we are currently going to find who is running this base and pay them a visit." _he said with the sound of weapons getting cocked also coming through.

"We got jammers in an unknown location in the building that are blocking teleports, and what's in the basement?"

Suddenly Yuri's voice took the line, "_I suspect that whatever evidence you are looking for is going to by either in whatever their commander uses to communicate to his superiors, or down below where nobody would be allowed to look, if we find anything I'll send it to Echo and you." _

"Will do, out." I finished.

"We should check out the basement first, see what they got cooking down there and pray it ain't cocaine." I said to everyone with a tinge of sarcasm in my voice.

"I'll take care of the guard near the elevator on the right, Luke, breach to the left, shoot to kill this time, can't mess up this early."

I nodded.

Jonathan looked over his weapon and cocked it.

With a series of clicks, my weapon was ready to go as well.

"Three, two, one, GO-"

We busted open the door swiftly.

The door hit the wall with a slam as two guards turned towards me.

They scrambled for their weapons at our intrusion.

Bullets whizzed through the air with the noise of gunfire oddly absent.

With no time to react, the guards couldn't even get a single shot off as one fell to the ground from getting hit in the neck, spraying the wall behind him with red blood.

The other's weapon got hit along with his knee.

My gun clicked empty.

Without thought I lunged with my knife.

He went for his radio as one last act of defiance.

I swat his hand away before he can push the button and put my knife to his throat while slamming him into the wall.

I paused, the guard dared not move an inch.

Was this what I really wanted?...

"Can you knock him out?" I asked Ruby with a doubt overtaking me.

Guilt started to set in, I threw it to the darkest depths of my mind.

I stared at the corpse, sprawled out in a state of disarray I had put it in, caught by surprise out in the open with no chance at victory.

Was I really right?

Ruby complied, waving her hands as the man fell unconscious.

At least I won't feel that one later.

"Elevator works, but it'll be a gamble." Echo said while reloading his weapon.

"It's a gamble we'll have to take, unless we want to risk getting caught while looking for a set of stairs." Jonathan said.

While reloading my weapon I spoke in a hushed tone, "I agree with Jonathan on this one, Ruby can stop their bullets if we get pinned down."

He nodded, "I see your point, we'll just have to hide the bodies that are here-"

Ruby snapped her fingers.

All the bodies and the one who was knocked unconscious were violently thrown into the room we breached from.

She seemed disgusted in some form.

"Nobody will notice their disappearance." she said with some anger behind her voice.

"Alright then, let's go." Echo said, ignoring her tone.

Echo and Jonathan with Quin trailing behind them called the elevator.

"Having second thoughts?" I asked her.

She shook her head, "You are as well, it's hard not too."

"I won't kill anyone else, I know that you know that I'm feeling guilty because of this stupid thing." I hissed at her with my gun clicking with a new set of bullets loaded.

"I'll do it your way." I finished, defeated at my conscience.

She seemed to lighten up a little.

The elevator doors opened, prompting us to enter.

The buttons all seemed normal…

"This place is like some run-down office building." Jonathan commented as the doors closed.

"Was probably bought and repurposed for their use, the iron bars were definitely a new addition to this place." Echo answered back.

The elevator started its descent.

"Weapons ready, I'd rather not get shot today." Echo mused.

With a ding, the doors slid open.

We were greeted to a grey wall of concrete.

Guess we got lucky.

I poked my head out into the hallway.

On our left was what looked to be another room under renovations, I could hear a conversation going on inside it from multiple people.

While on the right was a door made of wood, also unguarded, but locked with what looked to be a computer.

Looked important enough to investigate.

Suddenly someone walked out of the room under renovations towards us, turned the other way, seemingly talking to someone still as they left.

I held my breath as their footsteps approached.

"He's mine." Echo whispered confidently.

The guard stepped out in front of the elevator door, unaware of what was about to hit him.

Echo grabbed the guard by the neck, dragging him inside.

In one fluid motion he pushed the button to the second floor while putting the guard in a choke lock.

"How many?" he simply asked.

I tore away the radio from his vest, there was no help for this unfortunate soul.

"More than you fu-"

He froze mid-sentence.

Echo glanced at Ruby, who was responsible for the sudden interruption.

Suddenly the guard dropped unconscious.

"There are five more in the basement, three of which are in the room that he came from, the other two are in the locked one." Ruby said with her eyes stopping their eerie glow.

The doors opened again as the elevator stopped.

Echo threw the guard out and pushed the button back to the basement.

"Let's see what these maggots are hiding..." Echo muttered while the elevator stopped again at the basement.

Echo crouched down and quietly made his way down the hallway to the locked door with us in tow, following as silently as we could.

"Damn…" he muttered as he fiddled with it.

He put a hand to his earpiece, "Leo, report."

"Currently in the basement, two dead, two unconscious, we need a console in the basement hacked."

"Meet us as soon as possible outside the elevator-."

Echo stopped whispering.

He raised his gun while looking at the door to the other room.

The other three guards were aiming directly at us.

"CONTACT." Echo shouted

Ruby jumped in front of us.

Bullets stopped right in front of her outstretched hand as they dashed back inside the room to take cover.

"They released some Psychics, can't tell how many." Ruby said as the bullets clanked on the ground.

Jonathan released Vence, who immediately got beside Ruby.

"No bullets then, it'll be fists and knives." Jonathan said while unheathing his own.

"Lucky I brought my sword then." I said with a familiar feeling taking hold as I grasped the handle of my rapier.

We approached the doorway carefully with Ruby and Vence taking point.

"Last chance to surrender." one of the guards called out.

Ruby stopped and closed her eyes.

She outstretched her hand as she began to glow bright pink.

A blast of psychic energy ripped through the hallway ahead of us and into the room.

I heard shouting and something hitting the floor, we had a chance to breach.

We ran into the room with our weapons drawn and ready.

Three Pokemon were present with the guards.

An Espeon, a Medicham, and a Malamar of all things…

I released Gray, hopefully he can help against the Malamar until I can get a mega evolution off.

"Gray, cover that Malamar." I said while staring at its master, who appeared to be their leader.

It scowled as it realized it couldn't touch me psychically thanks to Ruby protecting me.

"Ruby, you're with me." I said while starting the mega evolution process.

Vence's blades glowed purple as the enemy charged to prevent her transformation.

A ball of shadow was sliced in half as Vence charged to meet them in the center.

The lights seemed to shimmer briefly, Gray disappeared amidst it.

The Malamar sent another shadow ball our way.

A water shuriken met it mid-air, causing it to explode.

The Malamar glanced around the room, looking for the source with anger in its eyes.

Our process completed, Ruby drew her swords at full capacity.

The Malamar turned to face us as its shadow began to move on its own.

It raised its tentacles to fire off more shadow balls.

Gray phased out of the shadow and sliced across its back with u-turn.

The Malamar whipped around to strike Gray, only to meet air.

He disappeared, leaving us to finish it off.

Ruby met the Malamar with her blade, slicing off one of its tentacles as it tried to grab at her.

The guard pulled out his gun again.

Then I realized all the psychics were distracted.

In a flash of light Ruby teleported beside the guard and sliced the gun in half before returning to a now angry looking Malamar.

The guard ran at me with a knife.

He swung predictably at my neck.

I took a chance to stab him.

He dodged to the side and grabbed it.

I messed up-

I was sent to the floor from a kick to the stomach.

My head was fuzzy and I could barely breathe properly.

I could barely see my own blade coming down onto me as I rolled to the side to avoid it.

With little time to spare I jumped to my feet while clutching my stomach.

The guard taunted while admiring my blade, "Looks like you ain't cracked out to be a Champion after all-"

A bang sounded before he dropped dead with a hole in his skull.

I glanced at his body before realizing I had my gun out…

I've never felt more angry in my life, and somehow that seemed to… fix it.

I shook my head as many feelings flooded my head.

It felt oddly satisfying knowing he wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else, but another part of me cried out in defiance over what I just commited.

Regardless of what I want to believe, another man lays dead at my hands.

I realized everyone else was done with their fighting, Jonathan and Echo had dealt with their targets without killing them.

Ruby was no longer mega evolved anymore either, the Malamar looked like she nearly did kill it.

"We heard shots from upstairs." I heard from behind us.

Without thinking I pointed my gun in the direction.

"CHILL, IT'S EPSILON."

I realized I was pointing a gun at Leo.

"Sorry, just a bit jumpy." I murmured while picking my blade up and holstering both of my weapons for what I pray to be the last time.

"We should get the evidence then call for our boys to come in to make it seem like a bust operation, so the normal police don't mess this up because I know for a fact everyone in this neighborhood heard those shots." Leo suggested.

"After we get the evidence we need, then we teleport out and your squad stays here, take _all _the credit for it because I want our involvement to be a secret." Echo answered.

Jonathan started down the hallway towards the locked door, "Jammers are probably in the locked room, lets go break it open."

We approached carefully, I stayed behind with Ruby, I didn't want to kill anyone else.

Yuri did something to the console, causing it to make noises before it beeped.

The door swung open, revealing what looked to be an office room.

The two guards that were supposedly guarding the room surrendered upon seeing Yuri and Bane.

Truth be told I would as well if I wasn't paid enough to care.

A computer was on a desk near the end of the room, I got in the seat and opened it up.

It was password protected, Yuri was able to get through it thankfully.

Lots of files, most of them seemed to just be business records or receipts.

One stood out, a transport came in yesterday from a location not in the city, what was on it was classified.

"Found the jammers." Yuri exclaimed before the sound of a shotgun going off sounded repeatedly.

I put my USB in and took any files that looked like it was going to harbor a location for us to raid next time.

"Delete the camera footage as well, can't be too safe." Echo said to someone.

I got up from the chair, "Got everything I can, let's get the hell out of here."

Echo tossed me a device of sorts, "Make a copy onto that so you don't have to come back with me and you can just go home for the night, you've earned it."

I complied, it automatically made copies of everything as soon as it connected to my USB.

I tossed it back and waved, Ashear appeared behind him.

He disappeared in a flash of light as he saluted me.

I couldn't help but smile despite the guilt still clawing at the back of my mind.

"Lets pack it in for tonight." I said to Ruby and Jonathan.

Ruby smiled as well as she teleported us home.

* * *

My feet met the carpeted floors as me and Jonathan released everyone.

"Mission accomplished, I guess." I muttered tiredly.

Gray and Aeon both snickered to each other with Serene beaming with happiness, Shock and Ashley both looked in awe.

Jonathan's team seemed much more energetic about the win.

I started charging my laptop in the same place as before before walking off towards my room.

I carelessly threw my backpack on the ground while placing my rapier underneath my bed. I took my holster off with my revolver and put it in my desk drawer before taking most of my clothing off, putting on something more suitable to sleep in.

Someone knocked on my door.

"Come in." I barely said.

Ruby entered, looking just as tired as me.

"Off to bed already? Aren't you gonna go and practice?" I sarcastically said.

I earned nothing more than a light stare.

"I'm not sleeping in the Pokeball tonight."

"Do whatever you want, just so long as I get to sleep." I couldn't help but mutter as I got into bed.

"Alright sleepyhead, see you in the morning." she answered back while yawning.

I felt her presence seep into my head like a stream of water.

I didn't resist it as it whisked me off to sleep.


	11. A Round of Politics

**STARTING THIS CHAPTER Psychic talk will be in [this] for all psychic types and will be treated like normal banter, might go back and fix it in earlier chapters if I feel it necessary. **

* * *

"GAH-"

I reached for my sword instinctively and found nothing but a blanket.

My surroundings were no longer that accursed office building, but my own bedroom that was still darkened by night.

Shakily I laid back down with my heart beat soaring higher than the last time this happened.

Another nightmare, they seem to be coming more and more frequently with every passing day, this one was different, the guards from last night…

I angrily elbow my pillow, I can have all the luxuries of a Champion and still have trouble sleeping at night.

What more must I do to feel nothing? To finally be able to sleep soundly at night like a normal person without the aid of Ruby?

Am I forever cursed to feel this guilt?

No, no, I have to go deeper, I need to do more than just shut down one measly base that was barely prepared for us.

I need to find the exact people responsible and do what I was too afraid to do the first time.

Who am I kidding, I barely was able to kill the first guard and fell apart when I had a knife to the second one's throat, and I'm still feeling guilty about killing the guard captain in the basement.

But the new feeling I felt, was that what paying someone back felt like?

If it was, then there is still hope for me. Maybe not now, but soon, perhaps I just have to numb myself to the idea of doing it.

[Not the best idea.] Ruby said telepathically from across the room on a makeshift bed she made with blankets and pillows..

I sat up groggily in my bed, "How would you know what's best in this kind of scenario?"

[Numbing yourself to the idea of killing someone only does more harm than good, it silences your conscience to something that the rest of you is telling you is wrong. Gallade and Gardevoir have to deal with such feelings the hard way, as letting them fester and and turn into more negative emotions will drive us into creatures that would kill without second thought or remorse.]

I sighed, "Newsflash Ruby, I'm human in case you didn't notice-"

[Being born human means nothing when you can suffer the same fate as those foolish enough to think that the voice in your head is wrong.] she sternly stated.

"It is wrong in this scenario, I killed two armed individuals who deserved their deaths because of their actions that led them to being there at that moment, their lives became forfeit when they began working for murderers." I stated back.

[Then maybe you secretly see the bigger picture and hide it from everything except your conscience, because it's clearly telling you something.]

"Then tell me, what is the 'bigger picture'?" I asked sarcastically.

She sat up to meet my gaze, [You've let revenge become the core motive when you should be going after them because what they are doing is morally wrong.]

"So what?" I hissed while laying back down.

[One makes you selfish, while the other makes you a hero, and I desperately want to see a hero in you, Luke, remember that.] she said in a much softer tone.

I could feel myself begin to crack emotionally, "I'm no hero-"

[You are, people look up to you and our friends, even Pokémon know of your name despite never even being with a trainer. Please remember what you wanted all those years ago, don't let these people blind you from what you've accomplished with us.]

A tear runs down my face as I find myself drifting off again to sleep. It hurt to ignore her, however I knew that she was right.

Maybe I'd finally get a good night's rest if I acknowledge the severity of what I did.

* * *

I woke up to the sun beaming onto my bed from the window.

Groggily I faced my clock, it was a quarter till noon.

At least I slept well enough.

I realized that Ruby had moved her makeshift bed next to mine and was holding my hand that was dangling off.

I carefully removed it and got up.

She stirred slightly, maybe she had a connection to me through physical contact to help me sleep.

I got up from my bed and grabbed my clothes, quietly getting them on while thinking of what to do today.

Technically I have the day off, just a quick stop by the castle to drop off the information to Lance then the rest of the day is free to my imagination.

I just hope everything else remains uneventful to preserve my day of temporal rest.

"Guess we slept in." I heard muttered audibly from Ruby.

"Do you want anything?" I asked her as I opened the door.

She yawned before groggily getting up, "Just some of the leftover berries, thanks."

I nodded while closing the wooden door.

Thankfully she seemed to not want to pursue our conversation from yesterday night.

The kitchen was much cleaner than the state it was in yesterday, with Serene at the table talking to Ashley and Shock. Grey and Aeon happened to be on the couch watching TV with Vence and Yor.

"Whats up?" Jonathan said from behind me.

"Gotta go see Lance later to drop off a copy of the USB, because of a deal I made with him last night during the raid." I responded whilst opening the fridge.

He sat down on a chair facing me, "I can do that if you want, I know that you're tired and stressed as of late because of recent events, and also I'm heading back out there to hang out with Lance myself anyway."

Maybe a break was a good idea, plus I haven't had the ability to have a normal conversation with Lance in a while.

"You know what, I'll come along with you, it's been a few weeks since we've properly hung out." I said while putting some berries into a bowl for Ruby.

A smile grew on his face, he seemed to be happy with my proposal, "Loosen up a bit man, even Gray has fun when he wants to, now's your chance to forget about your problems temporarily and actually have fun."

Having fun could mean many things, however I know that he'll make me have a good time no matter my attitude, resistance is futile at this point.

"I'll try." I said with a smirk on my face.

We ate together, although I found it hard to.

Something kept clawing at the back of my mind and I could tell what it was…

A mild headache seemed to fester; maybe today wasn't going to be great after all.

I couldn't help but watch the TV while half-listening to Jonathan talk about his 'grand' battles that he had the day before. I honestly couldn't care any less, not that I could ever tell him that, he was my friend after all.

So I sat there for what felt like hours until Ruby finally arrived, looking far more refreshed then I did. I couldn't help but smile to myself, she had taken one of my black sweaters and was wearing it with it being zipped up to the crystal in her chest while her hands resided in the pockets.

"What are you smirking about?" she asked me in an annoyed tone.

The smile stayed firm on my face, "You're the psychic type, you figure it out." I said while handing her the bowl full of berries.

She swiped it out of my hands and sat down beside me with her posture reflecting her tone of voice. Her legs were folded on the seat instead of touching the ground while her dress draped over it aimlessly. She had her left arm propping her head up while she slowly ate the berries in the bowl.

Vence noticed her and got up from the couch and sat beside Jonathan opposite from her. Guess he was bored with the TV or wanted to talk to her.

A knock suddenly sounded at the door.

"Who could that be?" I asked no one in particular while getting up.

I opened the door.

The figure I was greeted to turned out to be Lance; dressed in a lime green t-shirt that matched his eyes with some sort of black leather coat on the outside and dark blue jeans and black shoes.

It was far more formal than usual; he wasn't telling me everything.

"I decided that it'd be quicker for me to just simply come to you." he said while I let him in.

He sat down on a chair while I responded, "Perhaps you can explain why you seem to be in such a hurry?"

Maybe he has to go out to talk to Norman again Or maybe it has to do with other political duties. I really hope he didn't come out here just to drag me out with him like a cat.

The look on his face seemed to sour, "I need both of you to attend a meeting with me to discuss certain actions taken by a fireteam that was in the field last night."

"I thought that nobody knew?" I asked while facepalming. Today definitely isn't my day.

Lance shook his head, "Nobody knows you are involved, police arrived and were turned away by our people. However they reported that to their higher ups, which means it got to the 'suit' and whoever else is with him."

That was a slight bit of refreshing relief. At least we'll be able to play it off as an independent sting that I knew nothing about. We'll have to be more careful in the future.

"Do I just have to show up and not say anything?" I asked with my dislike of such events bleeding into my speech. "I'd rather not prepare a speech for people who couldn't care less to listen."

Politics, a dangerous game of popularity and moral conduct that I wished a long while ago never to touch again. But alas this world has no justice, we are some of the only people concerned about corruption within our ranks. They never intimidated me, its just stupid to play against a cheater that you know has nothing to lose and everything to gain with tricks so blatant and tactics tried and true.

We'd be playing a losing game, so I wanted to stay as far away from it as possible. While not everyone in the political parties are against me or corrupt, many are, and I do not know who to trust.

Lance gave me a look, the kind that you only get when you guess exactly what he was about to say.

"Just go up and say a few things and rally some support for 'my' actions, you can be a very moving speaker when you want to be." he said.

Flattery would get him nowhere normally, but I have risked far too much to let this go to waste.

"Alright, just this once"

I had gotten a suit and tie on; it's been awhile since I wore one. Ruby insisted she put something similar on to match me. So she had a black dress of sorts that was made for Gardevoir specifically because of the crystal in their chests and back, it was outlined in gold around the shoulders and bottom part of it.

The building the meeting was taking place was the Federal Institute of Tomorrow, or FIT for short. Kind of ironic because many of the people working there before a recent revision definitely were not fit for their jobs. On a good day they are concerned with the future of Veneta as a whole, and handled many things including other region relations or trade. On a bad day, expect shady dealings and smuggling of illegal goods. However the corruption in the ranks of FIT was subdued thanks to a new leader that was brought in after the scandal involving the last one.

The current leader's name was Olivia Galli. We're acquainted with one another, but that's about it considering that I barely knew anyone in the political space personally. All I remember about her was her light brown hair and almost trademark smile that welcomed anyone in front of it.

She was currently talking with an Audino who ran the Health Department, her name was Iaomai. Perhaps one of the most selfless people I have ever met; she went above and beyond to heal any injury and keep everyone healthy. She got the position through _democracy_, people voted for her because of what she promised to do and has done.

Much to the Venetian Justice leader's dismay that is.

The waste of oxygen's name was Kirk Benedict. Easily the second most hated thing on my list. While my friends and I called him 'the suit' because he seems more like a businessman if anything, I know he is smart enough to hide his tracks well and keep things running at minimal capacity.

It's how he's stayed in charge for so long.

"Hello, Champion." I heard greeted from behind me.

The person turned out to be a shiny Gardevoir, the last department leader who would be here.

Her name was Lapis, and she was in charge of Internal Affairs. I was pretty indifferent about her, she did her job well enough and hasn't done anything that would warrant suspicions. Which was funny because Kirk still did not trust her in the slightest, like Iaomai.

She wore a dress that was a dark navy blue to match the rest of her.

Ruby waved at her, "It's a pleasure to see you again." she said.

"It's been a while since we've talked properly, how have you both been?" Lapis asked.

I responded evenly, "Nothing exciting or extraordinary has happened as of late, I've just been bored out of my mind."

"Meanwhile I've just been doing nothing as well." Ruby added.

Lapis smiled, "Guess nothing interesting has happened for any of us then, much of the same for myself as well."

I noticed that people were heading into the meeting room.

"I think we may have to cut this short, the meeting is about to start." I muttered in a monotone voice.

I started off towards the room.

Jonathan was sitting beside Lance, I quickly joined them with Ruby also taking a seat beside me.

After everyone appeared to be settled in, a deep yet friendly voice broke the silence.

"I'm sorry that this was so sudden of an arrangement for all of you, but we have some things to get out of the way and discuss now because of… recent events."

Norman stood tall at the end of the rectangular table with some paper in his hands, he wore an expensive looking white suit against his white but slightly tanned skin with hair that was silver and combed over. His face was wrinkled just a little while his brown eyes seemed to warm up his demeanor.

Our leader stood proud, a man of honor and integrity.

"Let's just get all the easy stuff out of the way first, Lapis," he pointed at her briefly. "You and your people found numerous police officers to be involved in yet another drug smuggling incident, good work on that." he finished while lightly glaring at Kirk.

"Well I had no idea who these officers were and-"

"I do not remember asking you to explain yourself." Norman stated swiftly.

Kirk seemed to shrink into his seat, I couldn't help but smirk to myself.

His tone shifted, "But, you have my permission to go along with your plan to increase security at major checkpoints in the city, we definitely need them."

A sigh escaped him, "Now onto the more pressing things…"

He flipped some of the papers he had around.

"Iaomai proposed something that you three Champions must decide," he said while handing us each a piece of paper. "To lay it out, Iaomai is proposing that your old outpost in the Crescent mountains be repurposed as a medical outpost because there are not any such places out there."

I looked to Lance and Jonathan, "We had plans to build another one somewhere else anyway, right?" I asked.

Jonathan nodded, "We have no need for it."

"Then it's decided, the outpost is yours so long as we are allowed to transport supplies from that area to our new site." Lance said calmly.

Iaomai nodded, "You can do whatever you need to do, people get hurt all the time out there without any help, this will hopefully remedy that."

Norman then flipped his page again, "Now that it's decided, the last and more pressing issue is that last night, a sting operation of sorts was conducted without express permission from any officers or commanders that were active, the person leading it was you, Lance."

Lance didn't even flinch at what was laid out, "Guilty as charged, I had a lead and needed to act fast before it got away, Luke and Jonathan had nothing to do with the operation which was conducted by a fireteam that was simply following my orders."

He sighed, "You see, Lance…" Norman then handed him another piece of paper, "there are reports of both Jonathan and Luke there thanks to the teleporting signature that was intercepted by a police scanner."

"I was notified of what happened and went to investigate, we weren't apart of the original sting which we only found out was a sting thanks to military personnel showing up." I simply said.

Norman is onboard with the investigation, however he doesn't know of my involvement which I would like to keep secret.

"I don't care who was there and who wasn't, I just want to know why." he said softly.

Lance piped up, "It was a sting operation to get information that would connect various corrupt officials and companies to Alhertz Industries who are then connected to a group known as The Damask Revenant, the current military threat that's rising all over the region."

"Did you find anything substantial?" Lapis asked.

"Nothing substantial I'm afraid, what was found was stuff that only the military will find interest with." Lance said.

"Alright, next time let Kirk or me when you're operating in urban environments, understand?" Norman asked.

"I understand." Lance said while a small smile broke out on his face.

"May I defend his actions?" I asked.

"Granted."

I took a deep breath to clear my mind.

"I know that while what Lance did was kept secret from all of us, know that he is trying to keep this region in one piece despite all the trials we are currently faced with. If he suspects people in our ranks are corrupt, then I say let's give him the benefit of the doubt and play along and see what we find hidden within our bastion of safety for all. We cannot function as a machine if some of the pieces do not fit in place or are compromised."

Olivia nodded in agreement, Iaomai seemed to also agree, while Kirk seemed to silently scoff.

Lapis seemed indifferent to the idea, while Norman seemed to share the same sentiment. He trusted Lance and whoever else wanted to help in finding out who was with us or against us.

As we rose to our feet and left I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.

Who can I trust?


	12. Spilt Coffee

**Currently looking for a Beta Reader, DM me if you're interested.**

* * *

The gold and black rapier laid in my hand as I sat on my bed alone. It's been a few hours since the meeting with Norman and the other department leaders, and I'm starting to have a slight idea on who could be against me to the point of making deals with the devil.

I lifted it up as the gold details glinted in the setting sun's light brightly. I couldn't help but mockingly swing it side to side like I was parrying an unseen attack.

It helped me think, my eyes closed briefly as I imagined something coming right for me.

Lapis was definitely one of my prime suspects, she's neutral in everything and loves to stay that way. Like she's trying to be everyone's friend despite her department's job.

I jumped off my bed and spun around while backing away, slashing in the direction of the attack.

Iaomai could possibly be one. I don't know too much about her other than her connections with Lapis that stretch back to when the new batch of department leaders were all first elected.

The unseen foe came from behind, causing me to roll towards my bed as I scrambled away.

Olivia would have the perfect ruse. Pretend to fight corruption when in reality you're the one of the causes for it and possibly leading an even deeper conspiracy.

I parry an attack and transition into a stab.

Kirk would be interesting to investigate, he does a terrible job at his department but that doesn't exactly translate to being corrupt. He could just be inept in his abilities to control it, or maybe it's someone below him that he doesn't know about…

I pause in the position that the stab put me in before slowly raising the tip up and touching the ceiling.

"Your form is a little off." I heard from the door behind me.

"How would you know that, Aeon?" I retorted.

The Lucario closed the door behind him as he came towards me. "Aye, I'm more of a staff person after all."

Aeon summoned a bone made of blue energy before spinning it around gracefully. It was a move he was confident in, and had plenty of practice over the years to perfect down to every detail. His aura was strong enough to do plenty of other things as well, one of which was to speak like a human could fluently.

"Dare I ask why you're here? I'm guessing you didn't just show up to critique my form."

His bone disappeared as small particles of blue glowing dust sparkled away into thin air. He took a few steps towards me before punching me playfully in the shoulder. "Gray had an idea that I didn't need to fight with him about, one that involves you."

I didn't know whether to be happy that they didn't fight about it, or secretly dread whatever it is that they agreed with doing.

"What do you need me for?" I asked while putting my sword back underneath my bed.

A sly smile appeared on his face, accompanying a tone that obviously was trying to hide something from me. "It's not that we _need _you, it's more along the lines of we _wanted _to."

"Just get to the point."

"No need to get hostile, yeesh," he uttered. "We just wanted to have some fun with you by going out for a bit, just you, me, and Gray. Like the good old days when we traveled everywhere that had ground to stand on."

I shook my head dismissively. "I appreciate the offer, but I'm busy today."

"Don't lie to me bucko, I already did some… digging." he said with the smile growing ever so slightly.

I wanted to protest, to say that I am busy and continue to feign my ignorance. But he'd catch on because the powers of aura and psychic are only fun until they are used against you. Now I'm the one that doesn't have an excuse.

Today just isn't my day.

"Yo," someone called from the door.

Jonathan in all his glory stood in the doorway, maybe there was justice in this world after all.

"Yes?" I asked with some semblance of relief in my voice while getting up.

"You left your phone in the living room and it was ringing," he then lightly tossed me my phone. "Number wasn't recognized as a usual contact so I decided against answering it myself."

I did recognize the number, it was Echo's, although I never marked it down and deleted my call history with it in case someone took my phone.

"Thanks," I said with my phone now ringing again.

He nodded and walked off, leaving Aeon here alone with me. I was curious with what they had planned, they wouldn't go through all this trouble just for me to reject them. "Before I take this call, what did you and Gray want to do anyway?"

He sighed with his body leaning against the wall, clearly getting annoyed at all the interruptions. "Just to go and get something to drink, and maybe a battle or two wouldn't hurt."

I facepalmed hard, why the hell did he make it seem like it was the most nefarious thing he could imagine?

"You should've started with that, instead of making it like you were planning my disappearance." I said angrily.

"Heh, got a nice reaction out of you though."

I could only roll my eyes as I answered my phone. "Hello?"

"_It's Echo, I wanted to know if you wanted to talk a little bit about last night."_

"Does a coffee sound good to you? I know a place."

"_Is it that little place in the plaza?"_

"Yeah, I'll be leaving to get there right about now."

"_Alright, see you then, out." _

The phone beeped from the call ending. I found it funny that Echo knew of the coffee place I went to. Maybe we had a few more things in common then at first glance.

"Sounds like me and Gray are tagging along, _right_?" Aeon insisted with another light punch to my shoulder.

"Yes," I started off towards the door but stopped halfway. "Speaking of Gray, where is he?"

Suddenly I was tapped on the shoulder.

I jumped away while turning around and found Gray somehow there.

"I nearly had a heart attack, the hell you doing?" I angrily half-yelled.

He pointed to my sword underneath the bed, glossing over that he just appeared behind me.

Begrudgingly I took my rapier back from under my bed and attached the scabbard to my back, just in case. While the gun may be mightier than the sword, I'm not exactly going to be looking for people that do. The sword would be easier to pass off if anyone asked questions anyway, plus it looked cool.

The living room was bustling with activity, both mine and Jonathan's teams were watching something on the TV with him in the middle of it all, cheering about something that happened on-screen.

I spotted Vence and Ruby at the kitchen table, turned towards the TV while sitting beside each other.

They didn't appear to be talking verbally to each other, however one would occasionally smile or playfully swat at the other like they cracked a bad joke. Saying I was jealous of their psychic powers would be an understatement.

The three of us were unnoticed as I got my shoes on and opened the door to leave.

I turned back around one last time and saw Ruby looking at me from the corner of her eye, she winked at me before I closed the door.

Aeon must have noticed my sullen face because he put a paw on my shoulder. "Relax, nobody will miss us for a few hours."

"You better be right."

* * *

We had picked one of the coffee shop's outside seats in some shade from the afternoon sun blazing down on the plaza. Aeon and Gray were both in front of me, sat beside each other while I had propped my chin in my right hand.

"So I was going to get us into some double battles since it's just the three of us." I said while looking out at the streets, waiting for Echo.

Aeon stretched out in his chair with a smile present on his face. "You better mega evolve me, people love it when you do that."

"Is that all you care about? Your public image?"

"... and crushing their hopes and dreams." he added.

I couldn't help but sigh and continue staring out into the plaza. "Let's focus on the present for right now, we have plenty of time to decimate some poor kids team later. How have you both been as of late?" I asked.

"Despite Ruby suddenly shifting to being a downer from out of nowhere, I've been great for the last while or so." Aeon said.

Gray shrugged as he said something I couldn't quite catch.

"He said that he's been fine and that he's happy to know that you're making your own decisions without any of us."

"I don't think you should be congratulating me for that." I remarked, wanting to move away from that complicated mess. "Anyway… after this whole thing is done I might start traveling the world again, we only ever explored a few bits of the world we know."

Aeon perked up and smiled brightly. "Just like the good old days, eh?"

"Yes, just like the good old days…"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." a voice from behind us said.

I turned around and saw Echo, he was followed by both Ashear and the Garchomp who's name I didn't know.

He was dressed in his green and black military garb still, it seemed to be his usual attire from the way he casually looked in it. His white hair was combed back and looked to have recently put gel on it while he held a small cup of coffee in his right hand.

I gestured to a bunch of chairs around the table. "Not at all."

He sat down with his hands on the table in front of him, he had a small but noticeable smile on his face. Ashear instead folded his legs and hovered beside him at the table while the Garchomp sat a little further away from everyone.

It seemed either shy or nervous.

[Don't worry about her, she just has a hard time with socializing.] Ashear said, commenting on my look towards the Garchomp. He seemed to be watching her out of the corner of his eye with a little worry.

I nodded but kept quiet, not pursuing it any more than that.

"So," Echo started while clasping his hands together. "I say we get things straight for our plan of action going forward from here onwards."

I nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me."

"I'll start; should give you time to think a little while I ramble about the details." he started. He glanced at everyone at the table before returning his gaze to me. "So, bad guys are these so called 'Phantoms' or 'Eidolons', let's just put them under one umbrella and call them 'Team Phantom' for simplicity's sake."

I nodded in agreement.

"They've been stealing research all across Veneta and beyond to fuel their own agenda, which for now consists of creating hybrids and weaponry based on Pokémon powers." he continued as he took a glance around the area, I could see what looked to be a gun hidden inside his garb, he really wasn't taking any chances.

"However, there seems to be a connection that's hard to ignore. One, dear Champion, that everyone else has ignored thus far. One that connects Team Phantom to a corporate entity known as Alhertz Industries, through weapon transportation to them supposedly 'fixing' everything Team Phantom does. If you nail that connection on its head, then you'll be able to connect it to a bunch of government officials who may be looking the other way on purpose."

"In other words," I interjected. "Cut the head off the snake."

Aeon chuckled briefly. "I don't think Serene would appreciate that analogy."

"She isn't here to have an opinion now is she?" I said while glaring at him.

He shut up almost immediately, I wasn't in the mood for jokes. Gray seemed to glare slightly at me back, as if to say for me to lighten up a little.

Echo smiled and chuckled as well. "Well he's not wrong, I doubt any snake would like that analogy very much."

I could do nothing but sigh angrily and sink back into my seat.

"Chin up Private, you've got a reputation to uphold." Echo added in retort to my posture.

I put on a sarcastic smile while sitting upright. "I thought you retired?"

"As of that raid we did I'm not. It's never too late to get back into the fray young Champion, remember that." he took a sip out of his coffee and glanced around the area again. He then pointed to somewhere behind me. "There seems to be a scuffle going on over there."

I turned around and saw three boys that looked to be early teens picking on someone who looked only ten years old with an Eevee cradled in his arms. They both looked fearful for their lives as the three boys closed in around them.

I clenched the handle to my rapier, anger swelling up in me… but that was the last thing I needed, more thoughts running through my head with no filter.

I took a deep breath and let go, I was just going to confront them and nothing more. I faced Aeon and Gray while motioning for them to follow me. "Don't do anything 'till I say."

"We'll be right back, just enjoy the show." I added while Echo was about to say something.

Before he could respond I turned around and pulled my green hoodie over to hide my face on the approach. Aeon and Gray followed close behind me, I could tell that Aeon was angrier than even me, while Gray kept his neutral look.

I hated people like this, that obviously couldn't win in a one-on-one fight so they get their gang of friends and act tough. Which is why I crack down on it so hard, I despise people not even having a chance at winning. It resonates deep in my soul, the feeling of helplessness and weakness…

This isn't the time for that, I have control this time.

I stopped about ten feet from them, the boy with the Eevee noticed and seemed to ever so slightly perk up. I recognized him from somewhere, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

The one in the center had a red hat on and a fake leather jacket, he seemed to be their leader. While the one on his left had a purple shirt and brown hair. The last one on the center one's right had a black jacket on, the hood concealing their face.

Funny thing was that I was taller than all of them.

"What are you three doing?" I calmly asked them. Not making eye contact and making sure to hide my face in the veil of my hood.

The three of them turned around, bolstering malicious grins on their face as they eyed Gray and Aeon. They seemed rather interested in Aeon, he was a Lucario with an orange bandana wrapped around his neck after all.

Or maybe they just didn't notice Gray's knife sheath.

Flashy colors seemed to catch their eye more than the real details then, and that would be their downfall.

"Nice Lucario, wouldn't mind if we borrowed it?" the middle one asked, ignoring what I said.

The nail in the coffin had been spoken, Aeon chuckled, amused by their bold claims of thievery. The fun can begin.

"If you want him-" my ring began to glow as Aeon was enveloped in blinding white light. "Come and get him."

With stupur on their faces they fumbled with their Pokéballs as they summoned their own Pokémon in.

The one with the red hat got his out first, an Ice-typed Ninetales emerged along with a Nidorino, then he sent out one more, a Ralts…

The one on the left with the purple shirt summoned a weird looking Marowak that had flames on the ends of its bone, and a Nosepass.

The final one with the hood on emotionlessly threw only a single ball out, revealing a Dragonair.

All of their Pokémon seemed beaten up already, like all of them had already been in a fight not too long ago and didn't go to one of the many Pokémon Centers to get them checked on and healed.

The Lucario emerged from the light, he wielded a bone in each hand as a smile grew on his face. He made the bones spin in the air like he was a psychic for dramatic effect.

I whispered to Gray while they were distracted. "Target the Dragonair first, then mess up that foreign Ninetales with your poison, I'll get Aeon to finish the job with a steel-type move. Then you get to pick your targets after that but leave the Ralts alone, it obviously didn't get into their hands legitimately."

Gray nodded as he got behind me, getting ready to shadow sneak directly behind the Dragonair. His eyes focused in on his target with the same merciless gaze I'd seen a million times.

That Ralts had me curious, I know for a fact that it didn't end up with them by accident. They were too smart to end up with these kinds of people, they could sense motives from quite a ways away and could defend themselves relatively well.

You could only get Ralts easily by you simply not being a jerk and it finding you through your happy emotions that you give off from that. But some people would rather not have to change themselves, so they instead trade or… well, _take _one from some unsuspecting newbie that managed to maybe gain one's trust.

And from the way that Ralts eyed its own trainer out of the corner of its eye, it's obvious that it doesn't want to be anywhere near this group of people.

"Before you three ask the question of how I can talk, I'd recommend saying ya prayers." Aeon pointed the bone in his right hand at them. "Arceus just might hear em before I beat you all into the dust."

I nodded at Gray, it was time to get this started.

Playing fair was overrated anyway.

In the blink of an eye Gray disappeared as the Dragonair was hit from behind with on icebeam, one of his specialties when dealing with most dragon-types.

They all scattered as he jumped into the air and tossed a ball of purple oozing poison at the Ninetales.

It landed directly on its face, causing it to grunt in pain as the poison started to take effect and weaken it.

The time to strike was now. "Aeon, meteor mash the Ninetales."

He leapt forward without a word, deflecting an oncoming poison attack from the Nidorino by tossing one of his bones at it.

The Ninetales charged an Ice beam of its own as Aeon came down from above with his fist ready.

It backpedaled away to try and get some precious time for itself.

Suddenly it began to cough as the ice beam it was charging dissipated into nothing. Aeon smiled as his fist made contact with its face, sending it backwards and knocking it clean out.

The Nosepass suddenly started glowing as sand was kicked up in all directions. The Marowak joined in and started to weave fire into it, resulting in both Pokémon being protected by a sandstorm imbued with fire.

I couldn't help but be curious, this was a new strategy I hadn't seen before.

However I knew one thing, both of those Pokémon were susceptible to water typed attacks.

The storm of fire and sand continued to grow as Aeon rolled out of the way of a volley of fireballs sent his way from inside it, one came late and was on a crash course directly on him.

He braced himself for the impact as a water shuriken intercepted it early much to his dismay.

Gray appeared by Aeon's side and began to channel water around him into a concentrated beam. Aeon nodded at something he said, taking a defensive posture with both his hands twirling a bone.

The Nidorino had joined in by sending ranged attacks at Aeon along with the fireballs shooting out of the sandstorm.

Aeon winced at the amount of projectiles coming his way.

He swung his bones around to dissipate the first fireball and grabbed the poison typed attack with his aura, sending it right back at the Nidorino. It wasn't affected much by it, but was ordered to charge with a melee attack by its trainer.

With swift accuracy he deflected one of the fireballs into its path, causing it to trip and stumble over.

Gray briefly glowed bright blue as the aura of a psychic type attempted to intervene with his attack. I spotted the Ralts shaking with fear behind the Nidorino, trying desperately to affect Gray in any way.

The aura shattered like light blue glass as it disappeared, he was immune to whatever it could do mentally.

Gray pushed his arms forward and outstretched the palms of his hands as a beam of water shot out directly into the sandstorm.

The storm of fire and sand disappeared, leaving behind a knocked out Nosepass and a severely weakened Marowak.

Aeon threw both spinning bones at the Nidorino as he charged the Marowak head-on.

It struggled to hold the bone in its hands as it got ready to try and defend against the oncoming Lucario.

Suddenly he stopped short with a smirk on his face. "Behind ya buddy."

The Marowak swung behind itself instinctively, but found its club grabbed by Gray.

He ripped the bone from out of its hands and hit it across the face, knocking it out.

"Come on, do something-" the kid with the red hat angrily said at the Ralts.

Gray and Aeon got on both sides of them as I approached, they had nowhere to run.

"How'd you get the Ralts?" I asked.

The kid in the red hat backed away from me slowly, his back hitting the wall as he realized that resistance was futile. "I caught it."

"Oh really?" I picked the kid up by the collar of his fake leather jacket. "If I was to ask it that question, would it tell me that's what happened?"

"We all ganked it in the woods! I swear we didn't steal it." he squealed out.

Many wants came to my mind on what I was going to do with them. I could put a strike on all their ID's, letting everyone know what kind of people they are and limiting where they could go.

But something else sprung up in my mind, maybe I wouldn't have to do any of that. I could just let them go on a warning, and just tell the Ralts to go to a Pokémon Center if they do anything again and tell the staff of the situation.

I raised him up to eye level and took my hood off. "I'll let you go, I'm in a merciful mood today. But if I catch you doing this again, you'll never have a Pokémon under your orders again."

He dropped to the ground as I let go of his jacket, his legs wobbling like he saw a ghost.

"That goes for all of you." I said as I knelt down to see the Ralts. "If they do anything again, run or teleport to a Pokémon Center, they'll help you, alright?"

It nodded as it slowly made its way back to the group.

"Thanks for that…" I hear said from behind me.

I turned around and saw the boy with the Eevee. "Someone has to do it, and sorry kid but I've got to go, you alright from here?"

He nodded as the Eevee stared at Aeon and Gray with a mix of admiration and curiosity before walking off towards the Pokémon Center in the plaza.

I started to walk back to Echo, but noticed a small crowd had gathered.

While shaking my head I addressed them. "Shows over folks, go home."

"But I wanted to challenge you." I heard shouted out from inside it.

"I'm not accepting challenges, go home." I implored.

A collective groan sounded from most of the people in the crowd. Thankfully they all started to disperse back to what they all were doing before. Swiftly I made my way back to Echo and took my seat.

"Good battling, but why'd you let them go?" Echo asked.

I sighed wearily. "Because they are young and dumb, we all made stupid decisions like that every now and then right?"

"True, but what happens when you aren't there to correct their behavior the next time?"

"There won't be a next time." I retorted. "People like them only do things like that because they think nobody will bat an eye. Now that I've made it obvious to them that if they continue down the path they are going to get much worse then just getting a slap on the wrist, they should stop."

"Not everyone shares that way of thinking, young Champion, sometimes it's better to put them down so you don't have to worry about them ever again." Echo continued while sitting back in his seat, staring off into the nothingness of his own thoughts. "During the war, you couldn't afford to have any loose ends."

"This isn't war..."

"Make no mistake, young Champion, this is war. And you need to be ready to make those decisions _when _the time comes, not if, but when. People die when you hesitate-"

I pounded my fist on the table, causing my coffee to fall off. "I know more than anyone what happens when you hesitate, Captain. They were a bunch of kids with the wrong ideas in their heads, not terrorists."

I took a deep breath and sighed, sinking back into my chair like the coffee I spilt now sinking into the concrete.

"I know your pain, kid, I really do, but you need to remember that you can't discriminate targets when they are holding a gun." Echo said while getting up from his seat.

I crossed my legs and leaned back. "I never make the same mistake twice."

"Neither will they."


	13. NOT A NEW CHAPTER

So I've decided to not write new chapters for this fic at the moment, instead I'm going to focus on revising old ones to get them up to standards. Expect things like the current 2nd chapter to just disappear and have me just expand more on the third chapter to have most of the day from Ruby's perspective.

As this goes live, so has a 11k word rewrite to the first chapter, let me know how that reads.

In the meantime, I'll hopefully get groundwork for the 13th chapter done so it'll be easier for me.

Until then, I'll keep you all posted. Peace.


End file.
